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ISLAND OF P1I1L/K. 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































ANCIENT EGYPT: 




nni> listejj, 


TO THE 


CLOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD. 



LONDON: 


THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY; 

56 . PATERNOSTER ROW, 65 , ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, AND 
164 , PICCADILLY: AND SOLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS. 


/•5 6 3 








* LONDON : KNIGHT, PRINTER, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 



PREFACE. 


The antiquities of Egypt have been often explored 
with a view to impeach the accuracy of the 
Inspired historian. In a climate where the marks 
of time are too faint to determine the age of ruins 
by simple inspection, it was easy, before the key 
to the hieroglyphics was discovered, to confound 
later monuments with earlier, and to hazard chro¬ 
nological computations, which betrayed their un¬ 
certainty by the extraordinary discrepancy of their 
results. The erections of the Ptolemies were mis¬ 
taken for those of the Pharaohs, and dates were 
confidently assigned to the zodiacs which are now 
incontestably proved to be some thousands of years 
older than the truth. 

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone, with the 
consequent studies of Young and Champollion, 
have revolutionized Egyptian history, and caused 
it to be written anew from the illustrations now 
supplied by the Monuments. The advantage, how¬ 
ever, which might attend the interrogating of these 



VI 


PREFACE. 


long speechless witnesses, is still seriously marred 
by the unceasing desire of the sceptical school to 
impair the authority of Holy Scripture. The 
attempt is again made to establish an antiquity for 
Egypt inconsistent with the Mosaic record, and 
by so destroying its claim to Inspiration, to under¬ 
mine the entire Bible. 

The French, Tuscan, and English explorers, 
though differing in their respective computations, 
all sustained the authority of the Inspired history. 
It was reserved for the Prussian Commission of 
1842 to assert an antiquity wholly inconsistent 
with the truth of the Scripture. By combining 
these speculations with an entirely new and 
conjectural reading of the long-exploded Dynas¬ 
ties of Manetho, Baron Bunsen has elaborated 
a chronology which carries back the Egyptian 
monarchy to a period long before the Flood. 1 This 
extravagant hypothesis he dignifies by the name 
of Historical Criticism; but that it rests on no 
new information is obvious from the acknowledg¬ 
ment of Lepsius, that he has found no remains 
older than the age of the Pyramids, while Sir 
G. C. Lewis—a critic inferior to none—dismisses 
the whole theory as void of any solid foundation. 2 

A perusal of the following pages will show that 

1 Egypt’s Place in Universal History. 

2 Astronomy of the Ancients. 


PKEEACE. 


Vll 


what is really known of Egyptian antiquity re¬ 
markably corroborates the Sacred History, and 
that the monuments still receive their best expla¬ 
nation from the Inspired volume. 

In explanation of the number and diversity 
of chronological schemes, it may be well to 
premise, that no Egyptian antiquities establish 
any dace whatever by their own testimony. The 
Egyptians possessed no common era for the measure¬ 
ment of time; their events were dated by periods 
which are themselves uncertain. Their Monu¬ 
ments exhibited the year of the reign in which they 
were erected; their historians pretended to arrange 
the reigns in the order of time: but no arrange¬ 
ment can establish a positive date, unless we 
could be sure that it is continuous, accurate, and 
complete. Now, the Lists of Manetho, as they 
have come down to our hands, are clearly deficient 
in these essential requisites. They are broken into 
Dynasties which were certainly not all successive, 
while there is no evidence to determine how many 
were collateral. Moreover, of those believed to 
be successive, we cannot know that they were con¬ 
tinuous. Gaps occur so unfathomable that Baron 
Bunsen interposes a thousand years, and some 
writers more, where others put less than half that 
time, and others again (supported by the monu¬ 
ments) find no interval at all. 


Vlll 


PREFACE. 


The several reigns are involved in similar diffi¬ 
culties ; some are successive, and some contempo¬ 
raneous: but the evidence seldom determines 
which, and their supposed lengths are occasionally 
contradicted by the appearance on a monument of 
a higher figure than the historian has allotted to 
the entire reign. 

Monumental arrangements are open to the same 
objection. They are the work of modern critics, 
proceeding upon hypotheses which have never been 
established. The Denkmaler of Lepsius is a col¬ 
lection worthy of the time and labour bestowed on 
it by that accomplished scholar; but it must 
always be borne in mind, that the order in which 
his drawings are presented is mostly the fruit of 
his individual conjecture. 

In short, neither the History nor the Monu¬ 
ments contain the elements of a genuine chrono¬ 
logy ; and when of two witnesses neither can 
speak to the fact, little is gained by a comparison 
of their evidence. A true chronological series of 
kings would serve to date the monuments; or a real 
date on a monument would assign the age of the 
king to whom it belongs: but in the absence of 
either, it is reasoning in a circle to pretend to 
supply the defect. 

In general history chronology becomes certain 
only about a thousand years before the Chris- 


PREFACE. 


IX 


tian era: before that we have nothing but the 
Bible to depend upon; and of the Bible chro¬ 
nology there are two editions;—the ordinary one, 
printed in the Authorized English version, from 
Archbishop Usher’s computations of the Hebrew 
text, and the longer system of the Greek Septua- 
gint, universally followed in the primitive Church. 
The author has given his reasons for preferring 
the latter, but on such a question the Religious 
Tract Society will not be supposed to pronounce 
an opinion. 

This volume is designed to present the Chris¬ 
tian reader with all that is really authentic in 
the antiquities, which are so studiously pressed 
against the claims of Revelation. Feeling the 
truth of God’s word to be impregnable, we can re¬ 
ciprocate the deep interest attaching to these 
glimpses of the long-distant past: we can encounter, 
without shrinking, disclosures by which the enthu¬ 
siasm of unbelief thinks to crush our defences : we 
find in them only new confirmations of the Book, 
which, towering above the fluctuations of earthly 
knowledge, stands like a rock amidst the surge; 
and “ though the waves toss themselves, yet can 
they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they 
not pass over it.” 1 

It is thought fit to close this volume with the 
1 Jer. v. 22. 


X 


PREFACE. 


fall of the Pharaohs, and the completion of the 
Old Testament Canon;—a concurrence which 
marked, in characters not to be mistaken, “ how 
that the Lord doth put a difference between the 
Egyptians and Israel.” The new Kingdom of 
the Ptolemies, which occupied the interval to the 
opening of the Gospel,—the history of the Egyp¬ 
tian Church,—the triumph of Mohammedanism,— 
and the fortunes of Egypt in connexion with 
modem Europe, supply the material of another 
which is' now in preparation. 


York, 

July 11, 1863. 


NOTE ON THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 


The great problem adverted to at pp. 7 and 8 of 
this volume has been happily solved in the manner 
there anticipated, and now constitutes the chief dis¬ 
covery of the day. Captain Speke, and his companion 
Captain Grant, have returned while our last pages 
are passing through the press, and report that the 
long-sought source of the Nile is in the Lake Victoria 
Nyanza, situated on the equator in the Mountains of 
the Moon: long. 33° e. 

The Lake is a vast sheet of water 3500 feet above 
the level of the sea, and is connected with other 
smaller lakes. These waters are mentioned by Ptolemy 
the geographer, though it is only within the last 300 
years that they have appeared on any European maps. 
They are filled by the constant rains, which deluge the 
zone of the equator to such an extent that in the year 
1862 Captain Speke observed no less than 233 wet 
days. The southern coast of the Lake is in lat. 3's.; 
and in the middle of the opposite shore, about twenty 
miles north of the equator, the parent stream of the 
Nile rushes over rocks of an igneous character, to 
commence a journey of some 3000 geographical miles, 
or one-tenth the circumference of the globe, before 
they reach the Mediterranean Sea. This outlet has 
been named the “Ripon Palls,” in honour of the noble 
earl who presides over the Royal Geographical Society. 

The stream is swelled by other rivers flowing from 
the same lake, or its connected waters,before it joins the 



Xll 


NOTE ON THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 


Bahr-el-Gazal (p. 8). The junction of three of these 
rivers were duly observed, but the unsettled state of 
the country, the chiefs of which are in constant war¬ 
fare, prevented a more extended examination, and 
even compelled the travellers to abandon the river at 
a great bend and rejoin it lower down. 

Captain Speke describes the natives as of a similar 
race to the Abyssinians, tall and well made,with straight 
noses and curly hair. Their kings are continually at 
war with each other, and all have a great distrust of 
white men, owing to the enormities of the slave-traders. 
He adds the melancholy fact that, though highly intel¬ 
lectual, they have no religion , and do not believe in the 
existence of the soul. 


CONTENTS, 


Preface . . 

Notes on the Sources oe the Nile. 

Explanation of the Illustrations. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE VALLEY OE THE NILE. 

Palestine and Egypt—Church and World—Secular Learning—Ancient 
Civilization—Present Desolation — Foretold in Holy Scripture — 
Future Restoration—Remarkable Prophecy—Singular Attraction— 
Always Young—The Map— The Nile —Herodotus—Homer—Three 
Branches—Meroe—Blue River—White River—Source in Victoria 
Lake—Balir-el-Gazal—Tacazze—Nubia—Cataract—Pliilse— Elephan¬ 
tine— Syene— Egypt — Foreign Name —Legend of Danaus and 
ASgyptus—Greek Appellation—Laud of the Copt—Native Names— 
Black Country—Ancient Area—Upper and Lower Regions—Later 
Divisions — Thebaid—Delta—Mouth of Nile—Coast—The Inunda¬ 
tions: causes, progress, and effect—The Water—Shape of the Ground 
—Aquatic Food—Nile Worshipped—Three Seasons—Landscape— 
Animals—Birds—Fertility—Arab Shepherds—Navigation—Diseases 
—Land of Goshen—Ship Canal—The Faiooni—Lake Moeris—Laby¬ 
rinth—Oases. 


CHAPTER II. 

MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 

Antiquity — Preservation — Hieroglyphics — Historical Importance— 
Delta— Memphis —Site—Origin—Temple of Phthah— Pyramids — 
Etymology — Number — Three at Gliizeh — Sepulchres — Scientific 
Principles—Observatories— Inclined Passages—Angle of Elevation— 
North Star—Construction—Inscriptions—Appearance — Dimensions 
—Great Pyramid—Vault—Queen’s Chamber—King’s Chamber—Air- 
passages — Sarcophagus — Upper Spaces—Hieroglyphics — Well— 
Lepsius’s Theory—Structural Hypothesis—Second Pyramid—Vault— 
Sarcophagus — Shafra—Bunsen’s Theory — Third Pyramid — Three 
Vaults—Sarcophagus—Remains of Mycerinus—Inscription—Nitocris 
—Older Pyramids—Dashoor—Brick-work— Sphinx —Greek Legend— 
Description—Tombs—Prince Merhet—Lepsius—Saccara—Fullilment 
of Prophecy—Heliopolis—Obelisks. 


Page 

V 

xi 

xix 


1-29 


30—5 b 






XIV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER III. 

MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT. 

Quarries—Beni Ilassan—Eastern Bank—Pictures—Tombs of Nahar- 
si-Numhept and Ameni Amenemha—Years of Famine—Jacob’s 
Immigration — Nus—Speos Artcmidos — Berslieli — Panopolis— 
Abydos — Tliis — Tablet of Kings—Value of such Evidence— 
Denderah — Athor — Cleopatra’s Portrait—Zodiac — True Date— 
Thebks —Name—Homer’s Hundred Gates—Temple of Amun— 
Tablet of Karuak — Pillared Hall — River Court — Shishak — 
Scripture Coincidences—Avenue—Palace at Luxor—Birth of the 
God—The Meneptheion—Ramesseion—Osiride Pillars —Hall of 
Panegyries — Library— Colossi of Memnon — Legends — Medinet 
Aboo—l'irhakali—Sesostris—Western Sepulchres—Apes’ Burial- 
place—Tomb of Roschere—Brick-making—Sepulchres of the Kings 
—Human Sacrifices—Tombs of the Queens—Latopolis—Zodiac— 
Temple of Edfou—Phil®—Brazen Serpent—Labyrinth—City of the 
Crocodile—Intricate Chambers—Founder’s Name .... 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 

Sculptures — Sepulchres — Portraits—Inscriptions—Hieroglyphics— 
Pictorial — Symbolical — Rosetta Stone — Bilingual Inscription — 
Contents — Dr. Young — Champollion — Phonetic Hieroglyphics — 
Examples — Syllabic value — Alphabet—Lepsius—Bunsen—Three 
Classes — Salvolini — Dispute—Homophones—Letter H—Conven¬ 
tional Rules—Determinatives—Language—Sir G. C. Lewis—Agree¬ 
ment with Bible—Specimens—Paris Obelisk—Rural Ditty—Epitaph 
of Queen Onknas — Vertical Columns — Horizontal—Varieties— 
• Papyri—Hieratic Character—Enchorial—Manufacture—Illumina¬ 
tions—Book of the Dead—Sallier’s Papyrus—Royal—No History . 


CHAPTER V. 

THE HISTORIANS. 

The Pentateuch—Moses the First Egyptian Authority—Inspiration— 
Objected to by the Unregenerated—Adds a new Sanction to Reason 
—Herodotus—Dates and Authority—Manetho—His Authorities 
fictitious—Menes—Dynasties and Reigns—No Registers—Eratos¬ 
thenes—Different List—Both Works Lost—Josephus—Christian 
Chronologies — J ulius Africanus — Eusebius of Ctesarea — George 
Syncellus—Old Chronicon—Sir John Marsham—Monumental Cor¬ 
rections—Discrepancies—Various Schemes of Reconciliation—Baron 
von Bunsen—A German Manetho—Inconsistencies—Diodorus— 
Strabo—Nothing Authentic. 


FAGB 


56—78 


79 -95 


9G—107 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 

Incredible Antiquity assigned to Idolatry—Extravagancies of Bunsen 
—Heathen Fictions—Book of Genesis—Idolatry in Chaldea—Not 
in Canaan—Nor in Egypt at Abraham’s Visit—Possible Revelation 
to Sons of Ham—Biblical Notes—Egyptian Philosophy—Rise of 
Idolatry—Pyramids Monotheistic—Legends of their Founders— 
Religious Revolution—Chufu or Supliis—Original Faith—Contrast 
of Mosaic with Egyptian Rites—Necessity of Revelation—Progress 
of Idolatry—Soul of the Universe—Pantheism—Worship of Nature 
and the Sun—Book of Wisdom—Idols—Man-worship—Want of 
System—The True Light, .... ... 

r 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE IDOLS. 

No native System — Greek Parallels— Real diversity—Manetho— 
Herodotus—Eight principal Deities—Twelve secondary—Many 
others—The Nile—The Land—Rising Sun—Local Deities—Third 
Order Universal—Legend of Osiris—Supplanted older Forms— 
Possible Origin and Date—Allegorical—Historical—Osiris is Menes 
and Mizraim—Judge of the Dead—Remarks—Reason inadequate— 
Light of Revelation—Christian Privileges. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 

Primaeval Rite of Sacrifice—Temples originated in Egypt—Earliest 
style — Larger Temples — Dromos — Pylon — Pteron — Courts — 
Sanctuary — Sacred Object — Sculptures—Animals—Priesthood— 
Caste— Vestments —Wigs—Food—Gradations—Science—Astro¬ 
nomy—Length of the Year—Weeks — Divination — Sacrifices— 
Formerly Human—Vicarious—Propitiatory—Feast of Reconcilia¬ 
tion — Animal Offerings — Music — Unbloody Gifts — Incense— 
Scriptural use—Worship of Animals—Bull—Cow—Cat—Mouse— 
Ibis—Hawk—Dog—Snakes—Great Serpent—Crocodile—Ichneu¬ 
mon — Lion— Hippopotamus — Ass — Goat—Sheep—Pig—Fish— 
Insects—Plants—Theory of Creature-worship—Pantheism—Trans¬ 
migration—Panegyries—Female Deities—Sais—Right of access— 
Processions—Bari—Mourning for Osiris—Effects . 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FUNERAL RITES. 

Antiquity of Burial—Egyptian details—Embalming—Relics—Papyri 
—Mummy Case—Inquest—Sepulchres—Transmigration—Different 
tenets—Hall of Osiris—Prayers—Negative Confession—Judgment 
—Paradise—Place of Torment—Remains of original Revelation . 


PAG* 


108-127 


128—158 


159—190 


191—208 



XVI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE CHRONOLOGY. 



Connexion of History with Chronology—Want of a Common Era— 
Authorized Version—Septuagint—Philo—Josephus—J ewish Cor¬ 
ruptions—Antediluvian Patriarchs—Reasons for longer Chrono¬ 
logy—Abraham to Solomon —Results —First Egyptian Date— 
Shishak or Sheshonk—Bunsen’s Scheme—Ethnical Grounds—His¬ 
torical—Monumental—Isolated Names—No Era—Bunsen’s Four 
Periods—Last only authentic—Date uncertain—Middle Empire 
visionary—Era of Menes—Probable course of Events—Shepherd 
Invasion not Chronological—Parallel case in Russia—Difficulties of 
Bunsen’s Theory—Tablet of Abydos—Astronomical Confirmation- 
Nothing definite before Shishak—Connexion with Scripture—Ap¬ 
proximate Table of Manetho’s Dynasties. 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE PHARAOHS OF MEMPHIS. 

Reign of the Gods—First Dynasty—Menes, Osiris, or Mizraim— 
Fabulous end—Athothis, Thoth, and Horus—Division of the Colony 
—Second and Third Dynasties — Fourth — Pyramids — Chufu— 
Kneph Chufu—Shafra—Mycerinus—First Idolaters—Legend at 
Sais—Brick Pyramid—Fifth and Sixth Dynasties—Nitocris—Wife 
of Psamaticus—Eleventh Dynasty—End of Manetho’s First Book 
—Inaccuracies—Visit of Abraham. 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 

Ethiopian Connexion—Amenemha—XI. and XII. Dynasties—Monu¬ 
ments Idolatrous—Kings’ Names—Two Shields—Standard Name 
—Synopsis of XII. Dynasty—Civilization—Epitaphs—Sesortasen— 
Sesostris—Joseph’s Pharaoh—Painting in Naliar’s Tomb—Not a 
Shepherd King—Joseph’s History confirmed—His Administration 
—The Church’s Messenger—Jacob brought down—Goshen—In¬ 
troduced to Pharaoh—Blessing on Egypt—Jacob’s Burial—Joseph’s 
Death — Moeris — Labyrinth—Story of the Crocodile—Shepherd 
Invasion—Their Expulsion—Contradictions—Probable truth 


FAOB 


204—229 


230—242 


244—270 


CONTENTS. 


XVII 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 

Dynasties XVIII. to XX.—Amosis—New Lists compared with Monu¬ 
ments—King who knew not Joseph—Amosis—Amunoph I. 
Thothmes I.—Pharaoh’s Daughter—Thothmes III.—House of 
Bondage — Brickworks—Amunoph III.—Sacerdotal Honours— 
Horus—Succession interrupted—RamessuL— Manetho’s Tradition 
of Exodus—Truer Tradition at Heliopolis— 1 The reigning Pharaoh- 
Comparison with Scripture—Revolution—Restoration iEgyptus 
and Danaus—Intercourse with Greece—Error of Menophres— 
Proteus—Military Organization—Eall of Thebes • 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PHARAOHS OP THE DELTA. 

Changein Population—Shishak—Jeroboam—Invasion of Judsea—First 
Authentic Date—Defeat of Zerali—Other Dynasties—Ethiopian 
Conquest—Tirhaka—Account of the Priests—The Dodecarcliy— 
Labyrinth—Psaraaticus—Sais—Commencement of Real History- 
Intercourse with Greece— Military Successes—Rliodopis, the 
original Cinderella—Nitocris—Bed Pyramid—Pharaoh Netlio— 
Ship Canal—Voyage round the Cape—Pharaoh Hophra—Baby¬ 
lonish Captivity—Flight into Egypt—Jeremiah—Ezekiel Death of 
Hophra—Fulfilment of Prophecy—Amasis— Splendid Reign—Greek 
Visitors—Capture of Babylon by Cyrus—Persian Invasion— 
Cambyses—Darius—Native Meleks—Revolt of Egyptians—Amyr- 
tseus—Greek Auxiliaries—Last of the Pharaohs—Triumph of 
Persians—Prostration of Egypt—A Glance at Prophecy—Con¬ 
clusion .. 

Appendix— Translation of Inscription on Rosetta Stone . • 

Index . 


PAGE 


271—304 


305—341 

342—348 

349—356 


C 

















- 


























































































' 




































. 














EXPLANATION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

1. View of Phil® (from La Descrittion de VEgypte'). Frontispiece. 

2. Peasant paddling in the inundation.25 

3. Section of Great Pyramid.39 

4. Jewish captive in the triumph of Shishak.66 

5. The Speaking Memnon, colossal statue of Amunoph III. . 69 

6. Children of Israel in the Brick-fields.73 

7. Temple of Edfou.76 

8. Hieroglyphic sign, phonetic of H.85 

9. Hieroglyphic inscription from the Luxor obelisk at Paris . 88 

10. Hieroglyphic Threshing song.89 

11. Hieroglyphic from sarcophagus in British Museum ... 90 

12. Amun-ra, king of the gods.132 

13. Phthah, chief god of Memphis.133 

14. Phthah Sokar Osiris.134 

15. Ra, the Sun-god.136 

16. Triad of Amun-ra, Ament, and Chonsu.138 

17. Thoth, god of letters and the moon.141 

18. Triad of Sevek-ra, Athor, and Chons.142 

19. Pasht (Artemis or Diana), cat-headed goddess of Bubastis . 144 

20. Sevek-ra, crocodile-headed god of Ombos.146 

21. Anubis, genius of the dead.151 

22. Mandu, god of war.158 

23. Bestoration of Temple of Edfou (from La Descrittion de 

VEgypt ).161 

24. Hieroglyphic sign for the week («, k) .169 

25. Departure of the soul from the body.192 

26. Koyal Cartouche reading (p, p, a, i) .216 

27. Royal Cartouche of Menes (m, n, a) .232 

28. Hieroglyphic name of Memphis ( m , n, the lute for good, 

pyramid and final sign).232 


























XX 


EXPLANATION OE THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

29. Cartouche of Chufu (the sieve = ch, duckling = u, horned 

snake =/, duckling = u) .234 

30. Cartouche of Kneph Chufu (vase and ram = Num; ch , s,f, 

u, as before).235 

31. Cartouche of Shafra(disk of sun = nz (read last), diadem = 

sh , snake =/).236 

32. Cartouche of Menkaru-ra (sun’s disk = rat, embattled wall= 

men, uplifted arms in token of offering = karu) . . . 237 

33. Tablet found at Abydos, Anastasy No. 19, in British Museum 

(Twelfth Dynasty).247 

34. Tablet found at Abydos, Anastasy No. 57, in British Museum 

(Twelfth Dynasty)., 249 

35. Cartouche of Sesortasen Ea-kheper-kar, “ Sun offered to the 

world”.251 

Prenomen —Surmounted by insect and plant, symbols of Upper 


and Lower Egypt. In the oval, sun’s disk (raj, beetle (kheper) 
symbol of world, uplifted arms ( kar ) symbol of offering. 

Second shield —Surmounted by sun and goose (si ra ) “ child of the 
sun.” In the oral, phonetic signs, s, r, t, s, n. t 

36. Cartouche of Sesortasen Ka-sha-kheper, “ Sun crown of the 

world” .252 

37. Cartouche of Amenemha Ba-nub-karu, “Sun of golden 

offerings”.253 


Prenomen —Sun, sign of gold (nub) and offerings. 

Second shield —Phonetic signs for a, m, n, m, h. 

38. Cartouche of Sesortasen Ea-sha-karu “Sun crown of offerings” 253 

39. Cartouche of Amenemha Ma-n-ra, “ Sun justified ”... 265 

40. Standard name of ditto (three beetles surmounted by the 

hawk, symbol of Horus).265 

41. Cartouche of Sevek-nefr-u-ra, “Sun of good crocodiles ” . 265 

42. Cartouche of Amosis, “Son of the moon”.275 

Prenomen (according to Bunsen)—Sun’s disk, bowl (neb or chneb), 
lord; horse’s head (ros), watchfulness =Chuebros-ra: “the ruler 
watchful as the sun.” 

Second oval —The moon (aah), m, s—mes (son). 

43. Cartouche of Amunoph 1.276 

Prenomen —Surmounted by bowl with two lines (neb ta ), “ Lord 
of all ” (see p. 92). In the oval, hand grasping the pet sceptre, 
symbol of consecration, uplifted arms=“ offered,” with the sun 
above, i.e., “ruler consecrated to or by the sun.” 

Second oval —(Phonetic signs, a, m, n, h, p, t), surmounted by 
bowl, diadem, and plural sign, reading neb-sha-u , “ Lord of diadems.” 

44. Cartouche of Thothmes 1.277 

Prenomen —Surmounted by royal insignia. In the oval, sun, staff, 
scarabseus, uplifted arms, Ra-na-kheper-kar; “ Sun devoted to the 
world.” 














EXPLANATION OE THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XXl 


page 

Second shield— Surmounted by sun and goose, “ child of the sun,” 

Ibis (Thoth), m,s., “son of Thoth;” additional signs, diadem (sha), 
weight (Ma), and the sun ( ra)=ShaJchara, “ crown like the sun.’ 

45. Cartouche of Pharaoh’s Daughter, Makarra Nunit Amun, 

Hatasu.* * * 2 ^ 

Prenomen —Goddess Ma, bar, ra=“ truth offered to, or loving the 
sun.” 

Second shield—A, m, n (Amun), vase for Num, half-sphere t (fern, 
affix), lion’s front ha (chief) seated figure {as) noble, three strokes 
(plural number) u= Hatasu, “ cliief of nobles.” 

46. Cartouche of Thothmes II. 2 ^ 8 

Prenomen— Sun, staff, scarabseus, water=£a nakheper n, “ Sun of 

the world.” , 

Second shield- Ibis (Thoth), m, s; additional signs, diadem (sha) 
lute (nofre), scarabseus (beetle), three strokes (plural) crown of 

good worlds.” 

47. Cartouche of Amunoph II. 282 

Prenomen —Sun, sceptre, scarabseus, plural sign, “lord of the 
worlds 

Second shield-A, m, n, hep , (“to offer,”) hatchet, neter (sign of 
divinity), hek (the hook, sign of royalty), pen (beam of a balance, 
sign of a region); reads, “ consecrated to or by Amur, divine ruler 
of the land.” 

48. Cartouche of Amunoph III. . 283 

Prenomen —Ra, Ma, neb, “ Sun, lord of justice. 

Second shield — A, m, n, hep, neter, Ma. 

49. Cartouche of Amunoph IV.• * ‘ * 284 

Prenomen— Sun, lute, scarabseus (plural) cord (: na ), signifying to 
consecrate; n,Ka: “ Sun of good worlds, consecrated of Ra.” 

Second shield—A, m, re, hep neter, hek, Ma 

• TT OQ£ 

50. Cartouche of Amun-mai Horus. 

Prenomen —Sun, hand and sceptre, scarabseus plural, ret, Satp, re, 

Ea ■ “ Sun consecrator of worlds approved of Ra.” 

Second shield—A, m, n, mai, hawk with crown of Lower Egypt, 
m, neb, “ Horus the golden, beloved of Amun.” 

51. Cartouche of Ramessu I. 

Prenomen —Sun, men, peh; “ watchful founder.” 

Second shield —Sun (Ra), m, s, s, u. 29^ 

52. Cartouche of Sethos I. 

Prenomen —Sun, Ma, men, “ founder of justice.” _ 

Second shield—P, t, h, m, ass, or giraffe (Seth) a, e, i, n ; Sethei, 
beloved of Plithah.” 

53. Cartouche of Rameses the Great . . • * * * *'* 

Prenomen —Sun,Ma, jackal’s head =Raseserma, Sun lord of truth; 
additional, sun again, figure signifying stp, (approved), final re, 

•ts a -. -»• - 











XXII 


EXPLANATION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

54. Double Monument of Raineses the Great and Sennacherib, 


at Beyroot ..295 

55. Cartouche of Setei Menephthah.298 

Prenomen —Sun, jackal’s head, scarabreus = Rasescr Kheperu, 

“ sun lord of worlds.” Mai-Amun, “ beloved of Aniun.” 

Second shield — Seth, e, i, mai, n,p, t, h, “ Sethei beloved of Phthah.” 

56. Cartouche of Shishak.308 

Prenomen —Sun, scaxabseus, white crown of Upper Egypt —Ra 


hutkheper, “Sun world of Upper Egypt;” additional, “approved of 
the sun.” 

Second shield—Amun mai, Sh, Sh, n, k “ Sheshonk, beloved of 
Amun.” 

57. Cartouche of Osorchon.310 

Prenomen —Sun, scarabfeus, staff of consecration = Ra kherp 


kheper, “sun consecrating the world:” additional, “approved of 
the sun.” 

Second shield — Amun-mai, o, s, r, k, n. 

58. Cartouche of Tirhaka.311 

Prenomen —Sun, lute, truck, hand and sceptre: “ good refuge of 
the king ” (?) 

Second shield — T, h, r, £=Taharukah. 

59. Cartouche of Psamaticus.314 

Prenomen —Sun, lute, heart— Ra nqfer hat : “ Sun rejoicing the 
heart.” 

Second shield — P, s, m, t, k. 

60. Cartouche of Pharaoh Necho.317 

Prenomen —Sun, leg, owl, heart= Ragamhat, “Sun with brave 
heart.” 

Second shield — N, k, u. 

61. Cartouche of Psamaticus III. (Pharaoh Hophra) .... 320 

Prenomen —Sun, flow'er ( uah ), heart, “ Sun purifier of the heart.” 

Second shield — P, s, m, t, k. 

62. Cartouche of Amasis.325 

Prenomen —Sun, m, n, heart: “ Sun ruler of the heart.” 

Second shield —Moon, m, s, si, (goose) “ son of the moon.” 

63. Head of Cyrus with Egyptian tiara.327 

64. Cartouche of Darius (n, t, r, i, u, sh) .331 

65. Cartouche of Nectanebo, the last of the Pharaohs . . . 336 


Prenomen— Sun, scarabaeus, arms=I?a kheper kar, “ Sun ofTered to 
the wrnrld.” 

Second shield —2V, k, sh, t, nekslit (strong) neb,f, “ strong gold.” 


*** For the "Woodcuts numbered 2, 5, 24, 54, 63, and for several 
of the Cartouches, the Society is indebted to the kindness of Samuel 
Sharpe, Esq., who obliged the author with the loan of some of the 
blocks employed in the profuse illustration of his learned “History of 
Egypt.” 












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itself responsible. 

GEORGE HENRY DAVIS, LL. D., 

Secretary. 


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ANCIENT EGYPT. 


CHAPTER I 

THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 

Palestine and Egypt—Church and World—Secular Learning—Ancient Civilizatioti 
—Present Desolation—Foretold in Holy Scripture—Future Restoration—Re¬ 
markable Prophecy — Singular Attraction — Always Young — The Map — The 
Nile — Herodotus — Homer—Three Branches — Meroe—Blue River—White River 
—Source in Victoria Lake-Bahr-el-Gazal — Tacazze — Nubia — Cataract—Pliilce 
— Elephantine — Syene —Ecx pt —Foreign Name—Legend ofDanaus and AZgyptus 
—Greek Appellation—Land of the Copt—Native Names — BlackCountry—Ancient 
Area—Upper and Lower Regions—Later Divisions — Thebaid—Delta—Mouth of 
Nile — Coast—The Inundation: causes, progress , and effect—The Water—Shape 
of the Ground—Aquatic Food—Nile Worshipped—Three Seasons — Landscape— 
Animals — Birds — Fertility—Arab Shepherds — Navigation — Diseases—Land of 
Goshen—Ship Canal—The Faioom—Lake Moeris — Labyrinth — Oases. 

No two countries in the world offer so many claims 
on the attention of the Christian inquirer as Palestine 
and Egypt ;— the promised land and the house of 
bondage, the holy and the unclean, the type and gate 
of heaven, and the image of a world that lieth in 
wickedness. In the Old Testament they are at 
once connected and opposed, like the church and the 
world under the gospel. The allegory is continued 
into the New Testament, which opens with the an¬ 
nouncement, “ Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” 1 
If the student of Holy Scripture gives the first place 
in his inquiries to the land of the Law and the 
Prophets, the mountains and valleys which echoed 

1 Matt. ii. 15. 

13 

A 


2 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


the daily psalmody of the temple, the scenes of the 
Saviour’s life and miracles and passion,—the second 
place is as naturally claimed by the nation from the 
midst of whom the chosen people were brought out 
“ by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm 1 
the land that sheltered Israel from the famine, and 
Jesus from the sword. 

Scarcely less prominent is the place which these 
countries occupy in the field of secular learning. 
Situated near the original seat of mankind, both were 
peopled in the earliest ages, and each maintained a 
population that seems almost incredible when compared 
with its limited extent. One became the abode of the 
only ancient civilization based on the conceptions of 
the Divine Being which are now universal in Europe. 
The other was the cradle of the only secular philosophy 
which has survived to be sanctified by the gospel, 
and to follow its march through the world. “ The 
genealogy which connects European with Egyptian 
civilization is direct and certain. From Egypt it came 
to Greece, from Greece to Borne, from Borne to the 
remoter nations of the West, by whom it has been 
carried throughout the globe. The indigenous culture 
of Asia has either become extinct, or is in rapid 
decay ; that which had its first germ in the valley of the 
Nile still lives and grows in other climates, and in its 
diffusion seems destined to overshadow and extermi¬ 
nate the ancient civilization of the East.” 2 

The knowledge which took its rise in Central Asia 

1 Deut. iv. 34. 

2 Kenrick’s Ancient Egypt , i. 3. The learned author repeats 
the generally accepted opinion; but some not inconsiderable critics 
question the derivation of Greek learning from the Egyptian, and 
undoubtedly large allowance must be made for the native development 
of Greek science 


THE TALLEY OP THE NILE. 


3 


spread to China on the east, and to Egypt on the west, 
These were the extremities of the old world’s civiliza¬ 
tion : all beyond was either uninhabited or barbarous; 
but widely different has been the influence of these two 
poles of early civilization on other nations. Nothing 
beneficial ever came out of China; from Egypt the 
children of Abraham went up to found a metropolis for 
religion at Jerusalem, and, probably about the same 
time, the arts and sciences took wing, to kindle the 
genius of Greece, and open her imperishable schools 
of poetry, philosophy, and science. 

The parallel may be pursued in the equal fate that 
has overtaken these mother-lands of knowledge, sacred 
and profane. Both are now languishing under the 
only power in Europe incapable of appreciating the 
treasures of either. The Lamentation poured out 
in Egypt over the desolation of Jerusalem is equally 
true of both: “ How doth the city sit solitary, 
that was full of people! how is she become as a 
widow! she that was great among the nations, and 
princess among the provinces, how is she become 
tributary!” 1 

To each the doom was predicted in the warnings of 
Holy Scripture. If Jerusalem was besought again 
and again to be instructed, lest the Lord depart from 
her and make her “ desolate, a land not inhabited,” 2 
it was no less plainly foretold of her rival, “Egypt 
shall be a desolation.” 8 

For each also—to complete the marvel—it has been 
suggested that a day of restitution is determined in 
the & Divine counsels. The restoration of Jerusalem 
is clearly predicted and firmly expected; but there 
are prophecies hardly less express in regard to Egypt: 


1 Lam. i. 1. 


2 Jer. vi. 8. 


3 Joel iii. 19. 


4 


A^CIEXT EGYPT. 


“ The Lord shall he known to Egypt, and the Egyp¬ 
tians shall know the Loed in that day.” 1 Foremost 
in the great revival which is to follow the receiving 
of Grod’s ancient people as “life from the dead,” 2 
are named their ancient enemies and oppressors: 
“In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt 
and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the 
land: whom the Loed of hosts shall bless, saying, 
Blessed he Egypt my people, and Assyria the work 
of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.” 3 

It may be thought, indeed, that these prophecies 
received their fulfilment in the time when Christianity 
flourished in Egypt; hut something more than was then 
experienced—something yet future—seems to be 
contained in those remarkable words, “ Egypt my 
people!” That He, “whose gifts and calling are 
without repentance,” 4 should remember his own olive 
tree, the people “ beloved for their fathers’ sakes,” 5 is 
what might be anticipated from his Fatherly love; 
but if his purpose should travel on through them to 
their former rivals, and embrace in one glorious 
future those who are now levelled under a common 
judgment, this would indeed be a marvel of grace 
surpassing all our thoughts. Yet this is not the 
only passage where Egypt is spoken of in Holy 
Scripture with a signification deeper than is usually 
apprehended. There is ground to think that her 
ancient wisdom was not entirely the result of human 
speculations, but may have been derived by tradition 
from a Divine revelation anterior to the Mosaic. This 
mysterious question will meet us as we proceed. 

Meantime there is a singular attraction in a land so 

1 Isa. xix. 21. 2 Rom. xi. 15. 3 Isa. xix. 24, 25. 

4 Rom. xi. 29. 5 Rom. xi. 28. 


THE YALLET Of THE NILE. 


5 


different from all other lands; in that ancient river 
creating the soil and regulating the seasons of the 
year; in the stupendous ruins which stand in long 
succession on its banks; in the mysterious characters 
which hide the secrets of a remote antiquity; in the 
glimpses which here and there open upon us from the 
very womb of time; above all, in the contrast so 
vividly suggested between Nature and Art,—between 
the fashion of this world that passeth away and the 
word of the Lord that endureth for ever. 

Such are the ideas which rise upon the mind at the 
name of Egypt. The oldest of historical countries, 
it seems ever endowed with a singular youthful¬ 
ness. Its interest never wears out; its monuments, 
though in ruins, show few signs of decay; the corrod¬ 
ing tooth of time is arrested in its dry and equable 
atmosphere. The face of the land is unchangeable; 
the map is of Nature’s drawing, which the genera 
tions of men successively occupy, but can neve- 
obliterate. 

The Led Sea, recognised in modern geography as 
the boundary between Asia and Africa, is lined along 
its western coast by a chain of rough and barren hills 
rising rapidly to a height of eight or nine hun¬ 
dred feet, but nowhere so much as 150 miles broad. 
Eurther westward a parallel ridge of lower elevation 
skirts the Sahara or Great Libyan Desert, the most 
cheerless region on the face of the earth, and offering a 
far more formidable barrier than oceans or mountains 
to the intercourse of mankind. The valley between 
these two deserts is rendered fertile by one of the 
largest rivers in the world, and one which more than 
any other has exercised the curiosity of explorers, of 
poets, and philosophers. The ancient Egyptians called 



G ANCIENT EGYPT. 

it Ilqpee , the deep, and Phior , the river; 1 a name, the 
force of which is not lessened by the discovery of the 
mighty streams of America. Homer sang of it as “ the 
Jove-born JEgyptus.” 2 Its historical name, The Nile, 
is perhaps derived from the Hebrew word Nalial 
(river), or else from an Oriental term of wide accep¬ 
tation in the sense of blue? 

From the remotest period this river has attracted 
attention by its peculiar phenomena. Herodotus 
complains that, after travelling into Egypt for the 
purpose of inquiring, nobody could tell him what he 
most wanted to know,—why the Nile should do exactly 
contrary to every other river, overflow in summer and 
dwindle away in winter. The Bruces and Mungo 
Parks of antiquity were equally unsuccessful in dis¬ 
covering the origin of this contradictory stream. To 
“ seek the sources of the Nile ” became a proverb for 
attempting the impossible. Homer fancied it flowed 
direct from Jupiter. “ Touching the sources of the 
Nile (writes the simple-minded father of history) it 
was never my hap to light upon anybody, Egyptian, 
Libyan, or Greek, that even professed to know any¬ 
thing about it.” 4 Eratosthenes, the learned librarian of 
Alexandria, knew there were three principal branches; 
two of these meet at Khartoum 5 in Upper Nubia, 
under the appellations of the White 6 and Blue 7 
Bivers ; the third, now called the Tacazze, 8 is 
received into the united stream at Berber. Between 
these two junctions lay the so-called island of Meroe, 

1 So in Exod. ii. 3, 5; vii. 20, etc. 2 Odyssey, iv. 477, 581. 

3 So the iVei7gherries or blue mountains of Coimbatore, the 
mYghau or blue cattle, etc. According to one etymology, the Indus 
also signifies the Blue Kiver. 4 Herodotus, ii. 28. 

5 Lat. 15° 37' n. ; long. 36° e. 6 Bahr el Abiad. 

7 Bahr el Azrek. » 8 Anciently the Astaboras. 


THE YALLET OE THE NILE. 


7 


which the Greeks erroneously imagined to be the 
original seat of Egyptian civilization. 1 

Till quite recently, modern exploration had added 
little to the knowledge of the ancients. Bruce’s 
discovery of the sources of the Nile in the mountains 
of Abyssinia, was anticipated by the Jesuits, Paez and 
Tellez, two centuries earlier; 2 the three springs 
described are in all probability the heads of the j Blue 
River, though the connexion has not yet been verified 
by an actual descent of the stream. The White River, 
so called from the quantity of argillaceous matter 
mixed with its waters, is the true Nile. A mile broad 
at the junction, it increases to four miles during the in¬ 
undation. It was ascended by M. Arnaud, in 1841, by 
order of the Pacha Mehemet Ali, as far as Gondokoro, 
when the expedition was stopped by an impassable 
cataract, falling from a ridge of granite which directly 
traversed the stream. The latitude of this place has 
been ascertained to be 4°42' n. ; and, according to native 
information obtained by some Austrian missionaries 
who resided there, the river extended its course between 
two and three hundred miles beyond. In August, 
1858, Captain Speke, in exploring Central Africa, as 
assistant to Captain Burton, under instructions from 
the Royal Geographical Society, arrived at the southern 
extremity of a large lake or inland sea, to which he 
has given the name of Victoria JSTyanza. This water 
extends from latitude 2° south, to at least an equal 

1 Meroe appears to have been a tribal more than a territorial 
appellation. It was once the name of Upper Egypt, it is still found at 
Napator, and finally travelled south to the confluence of the rivers. 
“ In every case the name changed its place from north to south, 
and so we must believe that the tribes had at some early time moved 
southward from the head of the Red Sea.”— Sharpe?s Egypt, vol. i. 

2 Maltebrun, Book lx. p. 1. 



8 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


distance north of the equator. Its western coast had 
been ascended by Captain Speke’s Arab informants as 
far as Kibuga, which they reported to he only 160 
miles from Grondokoro. They were told that the two 
places are connected by a very rapid river called 
Kivira. This river can be no other than the Nile, 
which according to these accounts has its source in 
the Victoria Nyanza, and (as Ptolemy conjectured) at 
the foot of the Mountains of the Moon. 1 

To complete the verification of this important 
geographical discovery, Captain Speke has proceeded 
again to the equator, under the auspices of the same 
Society, with the intention of descending the stream 
from the Victoria Nyanza to Grondokoro. Meantime 
another great river has been discovered further west, 
whose waters unite with those of the White Nile in a 
large reedy lake, extending through the eighth and 
ninth parallels of north latitude. 2 This river also flows 
from the same elevated equatorial region, but whether 
out of the Victoria Lake, or from the mountains to 
the west, has yet to be' ascertained. 

On reaching the eastern extremity of the reedy 
lake just mentioned (. Bahr-el-Gazal ), the White Nile 
changes its course from north to east, and after receiv¬ 
ing two considerable tributaries, the Giraffe and the 
Sobat , takes its way almost due north to Khartoum. 
Here it admits the Blue Biver into its channel, but 
the waters continue to be distinguished by their proper 
colour for some distance. At Berber 3 a second con¬ 
tribution is received from the mountains of Abyssinia, 
in the Tacazze, a stream of 1000 feet wide; and thence 

1 Captain Speke’s Journal, “ Blackwood’s Magazine,” 1859. 

2 Petherick’s Egypt, the Soudan and Central Africa. 

8 Lat. 17° 40' N.; long. 34° e. 


THE TALLEY OE THE NILE. 


9 


the entire drainage is conveyed to the Mediterranean 
without any further tributary, during a course of 1500 
miles. The general direction is nearly north, hut a 
considerable deflection occurs in the centre of Nubia 
(almost in the shape of the letter S), which travellers 
are accustomed to avoid by a land journey across the 
desert. A little more than midway down the south¬ 
westerly reach is the sacred rock called Mount 
Barkal, near the ancient Ethiopian capital Napator, 
and on the opposite or left bank are the pyramids which 
mark its cemetery. After turning the southern angle 
the stream is divided by the island of Argo, 1 which 
marks the limit of the ancient Egyptian conquests; 
and soon after occur the ruins of their temples at 
Sesse and Soleb. 

The current is broken, throughout, by several rapids 
and cataracts, the last of which lies nearly under the 
tropic of Cancer. Here the channel is traversed by a 
ridge of rose-coloured granite, whose numerous quarries 
supplied the rich material for the statues, columns, and 
obelisks so abundantly produced by Egyptian art. 
The rocks overhang the river on either side, and the 
stream is divided by more than twenty large islands, 
between which the water rushes with considerable 
vehemence. The total descent, however, is only eighty 
feet in five miles, broken into three principal falls. In 
the subterranean caverns of this rapid the ancient 
Egyptians placed the sources of the Nile, which they 
supposed to flow from this centre both to the north 
and south. Here was the fabled haunt of Osiris, who 
was said to remain buried in the secret abysses while 
the river was contained within its banks, but to rise 
and scatter his blessings when the inundation began. 

1 Lat. 19° 25'. 



10 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


In the still waters at the head of the cataract lies the 
beautiful island of Philae, geographically, therefore, in 
Nubia, and in the time of Herodotus inhabited by 
Ethiopians, but after the Persian conquest included in 
Egypt. 1 This was the sacred island of Isis, called the 
“ Lady of Philek,” as Osiris had his island of Phiueb con¬ 
taining his grave, inaccessible to all but the priests. 2 

About three miles below the falls is Elephantine, an 
island in the midst of the stream, covered with verdure 
and flowers, which form a charming contrast to the 
wild and barren scenery on either bank. It is at this 
point that Egypt Proper commences. Syene its 
frontier town, now called Assouan, stands on the right 
bank abreast of Elephantine, and conspicuous for its 
quarries, which still contain a half-finished obelisk of 
ancient design. Erom these quarries the beautiful 
red granite derives its name of Syenite; and here the 
Homan satirist Juvenal was compelled to grieve his 
contemptuous eyes with the relics of barbarian art in 
exchange for the delights of Home, from which he 
was banished by the resentment of the emperor 
Domitian, under pretence of commanding the Legion 
at that post. 

Syene was said to be so exactly under the tropic, 
that at the solstice the sun was reflected in a well at 
noonday, and an upright pole cast no shadow. The 
present town, however, is more than half a degree to 
the north of the tropic of Cancer. 

Erom the cataracts to the sea, a distance of 739 

V “ The hieroglyphical name of this island is generally read Manlak. 
I have found it several times undoubtedly written Ilak ; this with the 
article becomes Pliilak , in the mouth of the Greeks Philai 
Pepsins’Letters from Egypt , Ethiopia , etc., xv. For another meaning 
of this word and Elephantine, see note on page 145. 

2 Lepsius’ Letters, xv. 


THE TALLEY OE THE KILE. 


11 


miles, the Nile proceeds without interruption over a 
bed so level that the total fall is less than 600 feet. 
The valley on either side of this majestic tide is Egypt: 
the river has supplied in all ages the limit and defini¬ 
tion of the people ; to live below the cataract and 
drink the waters of the Nile was to be an Egyptian. 1 

The name, however, by which this well-defined 
country is designated in all the tongues of Europe is 
wholly unknown to its native history and language. 
Egypt is an appellation derived from the Greeks, who 
not unfrequently transmuted foreign words into their 
own idiom, and then invented a fable to explain their 
etymology. According to their legends, iEgyptus was 
a king who reigned on the banks of the Nile in con¬ 
junction with his brother Danaus; till some dispute 
arising, the latter took ship with his fifty daughters, 
and after touching at Ehodes came to Argos, where 
he obtained the kingdom, and changed the name of the 
inhabitants from Pelasgi to Danai. His court was 
visited by the fifty sons of his brother ^gyptus, who, 
having been married to their cousins on the same day, 
were assassinated (with a single exception) by their 
brides in the night. This Hlgyptus, it is added, gave 
his name both to the mother country and the river 
which was its principal feature. 

All that we can infer from this legend is that some 
portion of the Greek civilization had an Egyptian 
origin; and this was in fact a favourite hypothesis of 
both nations. It throws no light at all on the origin 
of the name assigned at once to the Nile, its territories 
and their kings. iEgyptus is clearly a word of Greek 
fabrication, and must have been unknown m the 
valley of the Nile till the Greeks introduced it. It 
1 Herod, ii. 18. 


12 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


is formed from aia (for gaia) the Greek word for land, 
and some native monosyllable expanded by a Greek 
termination into gyptus. The same monosyllabic root 
appears in Coptos , the Greek name of a town in Central 
Egypt now called Keft, but which in the hieroglyphic 
characters is written Kobto. In all probability, there¬ 
fore, the root is identical with Copt , which is still the 
designation of the oldest race in Egypt, whose language 
is considered to be the nearest representative of the 
ancient Egyptian. On this view iEgyptus is simply “ the 
land of the Copt.” Mr. Bruce informs us that in the 
neighbouring country of Ethiopia y Gypt is understood 
to mean the land of canals; while Major Wilford trans¬ 
lates the Sanscrit equivalent Agupta , “guarded on every 
side.” 1 Either meaning might be sufficiently appro¬ 
priate to a country which owes its existence to a 
system of canals as numerous and beneficial as the 
blood-vessels in the animal organization, and which is 
moreover shut in on all sides by the desert and the 
sea. It is curious also that the latter meaning is found 
in the Hebrew Mazor , which supplied the name for 
Egypt in all the languages of the East, and which 
in Micah vii. 12 is translated “fortress,” i. e., a place 
shut in and guarded by walls. 2 

The designation “ Copt ” has been not improbably 
traced to Caphtorim , 3 the name of a tribe descended 
from Mizraim, the third son of Ham; names which 
were common to those primitive patriarchs, and the 
1 and inhabited by their posterity. The Egyptians them¬ 
selves called their country Chemi , or Chem, which 

1 Asiatic Researches, iii. 304. 

2 In two other places, 2 Kings xix. 24, and Isa. xix. 6, where the 
English version follows the same meaning, the Spanish translation of 
Proops reads, “ rivers of Ljypt.” 

3 Gen. x. 14. 


THE TALLEY OE THE NILE. 


13 


is the same with Ham, and signifies dark. “ The land 
of Ham” is a frequent appellation in the Psalms: hut 
the common name of Egypt in Holy Scripture is 
Mizraim, the plural, or rather dual form of Mazor, and 
also the designation of the patriarch who is believed 
to have first settled on the Nile. 1 Ham signifies 
dark ; and, as applied to the country, may have referred 
to the black alluvial mud which covered the fields, 
and would undoubtedly attract the attention of the 
first colonists. A similar meaning has been found in 
the Arabic Misr ; and as the earliest Greek name was 
Aeria, a word of the same import, it seems probable 
that it was originally known as the Black Country. 

This name would include all the lands fertilized by 
the Nile, which were anciently much more extensive 
than at present. A rich valley, 2 including probably 
the land of G-oshen, which was watered by a canal from 
the eastern branch of the Nile to the head of the Grulf 
of Suez, is now buried in the sands of the desert. In 
other parts also the watercourses have been neglected, 
and it is computed that fully a third of the ancient culti¬ 
vation is thus lost. The entire area, including lakes 
and sandy tracks, is less than 10,000 square geographi¬ 
cal miles, of which little more than one half is at pre¬ 
sent under cultivation. 3 

1 The dual form has been supposed to relate to Upper and Lower 
Egypt, a division traced by nature itself, and duly recognised under 
every government. The best authorities conceive that these appella¬ 
tions originally belonged to the several races or tribes, and from them 
were transferred both to the lands they inhabited, and the patriarch 
from whom they were sprung. The “two Misr” is a name still 
used by the Arabs.— Wil/cinson’s Manners and Customs , i. 2; and 
Hengstenberg’s Egypt and Moses , Edin. p. 197. 

2 The Wady-i-Tumeylat. 

3 Total superficies, square geographical miles, 9,582; anciently 
cultivated, 8,361; modern cultivation, 5,626; reclaimable, 1,295. 
See Smith’s “ Bible Dictionary,” p. 495. 



14 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Though united under the common designation of 
Egypt, nothing can be more dissimilar than the physi¬ 
cal* aspect of the Upper and Lower Regions. From 
Assouan to Cairo, a distance of 629 miles, the valley is 
limited to an average breadth of seven miles, forming 
a strip of cultivation drawn across the desert like a 
ribbon, with the Nile for a central thread. This nar¬ 
row winding valley seems to belong to Nubia more 
than to Egypt, and would have been always reckoned 
in the former country but for the cataract which 
impedes the river communication. The temperature 
is seven degrees higher than in Lower Egypt; the 
vegetation is more tropical; the crocodile seldom 
descends to its lower end, and the shell-fish are those 
of Abyssinia and the South. 

Under the Pharaohs the upper valley was distin¬ 
guished by the name of Ta-res, the “ Southern Region,” 
and formed a distinct government from the Ta Bleheet 
or “ Northern Eegions.” The sovereignty was even 
marked by different crowns and titles. The Greeks 
and Romans divided the upper valley into the Thebais 
and the Ileptanoinis, nearly corresponding to the 
modern divisions of Upper and Central Egypt. 
These distinctions being political, not physical, have 
varied with the different rulers. The Thebaid was con¬ 
sidered to include the southern part of the valley as 
far as Abydos or This, where a canal, or more probably 
an old branch of the Nile, still bearing the name of 
Joseph’s river (Bahr Jussuf ), diverges to the left, and 
flowing between the main channel and the Libyan hills, 
joins the western branch a little below Cairo. At 
present Upper Egypt extends down the left bank of 
the river to the transverse valley, which opens towards 
the Little Oasis just below Manfalout , and on the 


THE YALLEY OF THE NILE. 


15 


sight bank to the twenty-eighth parallel of north 
;atitude. 

Lower Egypt is distinguished by an entirely dif¬ 
ferent conformation, effecting a corresponding change 
in the aspect of the river. Near Cairo the hills which 
enclose the valley begin to recede from each other, the 
eastern range turning off towards the head of the Red 
Sea, and the opposite one retiring into Libya to the 
north west. The Nile, obtaining room to expand, 
separates into two branches, which proceed with a 
weakened current to empty themselves into the 
Mediterranean at Rosetta and Damietta. The Delta , 
or triangle enclosed between these branches and the 
sea, is a vast plain of sand, covered to a depth of 
thirty feet with the deposits of the Nile, and teeming 
with agricultural wealth. In former times it was pro¬ 
bably twice as large as at present: the apex of the 
Delta was six or seven miles higher up the river, and 
the area of cultivation extended much further to the 
east and west, where its limit may still be traced by a 
greater verdure in the desert. 

The Nile had then seven mouths, corresponding with 
as many great streams which enclosed and fertilized the 
Delta. The Canopic branch, now partly confounded 
with the canal of Alexandria, and partly lost in the Lake 
Etko, was the westernmost. Next to it was the BoTbitine , 
originally a canal from the Canopic branch, and still 
open at Rosetta. The Selenitic being in the direct 
line of the undivided riveiy had the strongest current, 
and, as a natural consequence, carried the shore 
furthest out into the sea ; its mouth is now lost in the 
Lake Bourlos. The Bhatnitic or Bucolic branch, yet 
open at Damietta, forms the eastern limit of the exist- 
^ig Delta. Beyond this were of old the Menclesian , 




16 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


and the Tanitic or Saitic, corresponding with the pre¬ 
sent canal of Moez ; and lastly the Pelusiac, near the 
ancient town of Pelusium, whose ruins are still 
visible to the east of Lake Menzaleh. This extensive 
lagoon has obliterated the mouths of the three last- 
named branches of the Nile. 

Alterations of this description are the natural re¬ 
sults of the opposing action of the river and the sea. 
The former, taking its course through an alluvial plain 
annually submerged, was always liable to change its 
channels. The straighter and stronger branches car¬ 
ried their deposits furthest out into the sea, the lateral 
and weaker streams parting with their burdens nearer 
land. Hence the fanlike shape of the coast. On the 
other hand, the resistance of the sea was continually 
silting up the mouths of the various channels; while 
the waves beating in at the lowest points often more 
than recovered what had been lost. The lakes were 
converted into salt lagoons, and nothing hut a few 
islands showed where the lower plains had once ex¬ 
tended. This incessant war of the salt water with 
the fresh was perhaps the cause of more peril to 
strangers visiting Egypt, than the alleged inhumanity 
of its pristine inhabitants. Herodotus doubted whether 
foreigners were ever offered in sacrifices to Osiris; 
hut it is certain that the inhospitable coast offered no 
safe harbour of refuge till the small island of Pharos 
(off Alexandria) was connected with the shore by a 
pier (b. c. 284). 

When the Nile is called the principal or only 
natural feature of Egypt, the term is too feeble to 
express its true relation to the region through which 
it runs. Egypt is not so much watered as created by 
the Nile: the soil is not only fertilized, but deposited 


THE VALLEY OE THE NILE. 


17 


by the river, whose waters form the only line between 
the habitable land and the desert. Herodotus and the 
priests with whom he conversed were of opinion that 
Egypt was once a gulf of the sea, which had been 
gradually filled up by the annual deposits. 1 Modern 
geology has satisfied itself that even in the Delta the 
alluvium rests upon a floor previously elevated above 
the sea level. Yet if Egypt has not been raised out of 
the Mediterranean, it has certainly been reclaimed 
from a waste of sand, not less barren and salt, by the 
action of its beneficent river. Time was when it was 
nothing hut a long rocky valley of sandstone and 
limestone ending in a shallow hay. A river flowed in 
the midst of this valley, upon whose arid hanks no 
human being could have found shelter or sustenance. 
Eor centuries the solitary stream employed itself in 
transporting the soil of Central Africa, and spreading 
it along its banks, before man became aware of the pre¬ 
paration making for his abode. Eor centuries since 
the process has continued without abatement. It still 
effaces every year the tablets of past benefits, and 
renews the soil for fresh productions. 

The cause of this phenomenon, so mysterious to the 
ancients, is now clearly recognised in the periodical 
rains falling on the high lands, where the Nile and 
its affluents take their rise. In Egypt there is little 
or no rain, a fact duly noted in the word of Grod, 
when denouncing his judgment on the rebellious of 
the latter days. 2 The exhalations of the Mediterranean 

1 Herodotus, ii. 12. 

2 Zech. xiv. 18; see also Deut. xi. 10, 11. Rain is not unfrequent 
on the sea-coast; but the cultivation is not dependent on it. In 
Thebes, also, some of the temples are furnished with waterspouts, and 
storms of wind, hail, and rain have been chronicled, but always as 
rare phenomena. 

C 



18 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


are carried past the arid levels and inconsiderable hills, 
to expend themselves on the mountains of Abyssinia 
and Central Africa. The rain-fall is regulated by the 
sun’s passage from the tropic and the equator. As his 
rays become vertical they create a vacuum, to supply 
which a current sets in from the sea ; these winds being 
loaded with moisture, the clouds are condensed upon 
the heights and descend in torrents of rain. The 
action is so regular that Bruce observed the rains to 
set in at the various localities precisely when the sun 
reached its greatest height above them. The brooks 
and rivers are then rapidly filled to overflowing; and 
as the greater part converge in the Nile, an annual 
inundation takes place throughout its entire length. 
The effect is increased by the northerly winds rolling 
a larger quantity of water to the mouth of the rivei 
and keeping back the fresh. 

The rise begins at Syene about the middle of 
June, and gradually extends itself down the valley. 
At first it is scarcely perceptible, but augmenting 
rapidly, it gains half the increase by the middle of 
August. The dykes are then cut, which close the 
entrances to the numerous canals by which the 
country is intersected, and the waters, now red and 
turbid, are admitted into the fields. The inundation 
reaches its height about the end of September; after 
remaining stationary for a fortnight, it decreases at a 
similar rate till the 20th of May, when the river is at 
the lowest. At this time the depth at Cairo is not 
more than six feet, and the current is scarcely discern¬ 
ible in the level channels of the Delta. 

Notwithstanding the enormous quantity of water 
expended on the fields, the average discharge into the 
sea during the inundation is ninefold the quantity at 


THE VALLEY OE THE NILE. 


19 


other times; and the current augments its velocity in 
the same proportion. At Lycopolis, near the middle 
of Egypt, it has been observed to run at the rate of 
nearly six feet in a second, 1 2 or above forty miles an hour. 

The height of the water varies in different parts. 
At the cataracts the rise is 40 feet, at Thebes about 35, 
and at Rosetta only 3 J. At Cairo, where it is carefully 
observed for the purpose of assessing the Sultan’s 
tribute, the highest rise was 24 feet, and the lowest. 18, 
during the four years when the Erench had possession 
of the country and kept a register of the overflow. 
In the time of Herodotus 15 or 16 cubits was accounted 
a good Nile? The sixteenth cubit marked on the 
Niiometer is called “the Sultan’s Water,” the tribute 
being remitted if the river falls short of this height. 
Anything under 24 feet gives a defective harvest, and 
under 18 entails famine upon thousands. On the 
other hand, an excessive overflow, such as occasionally 
happens, spreads devastation through the land: houses, 
cattle, and granaries are swept away in the deluge. 
The waters are longer in abating; the husbandry is 
delayed, and the harvest endangered. Pestilence also 
frequently ensues from the stagnant waters and the 
decay of animal remains. 

The deposit left by the inundation contains in every 
100 parts 48 of clay (alumen), 9 of carbon, 18 of car¬ 
bonate of lime, and 4 of carbonate of magnesia, besides 
portions of silica and oxide of iron. 3 The water is 
admitted into the fields from the canals, and, being 

1 Ritter, Africa, p. 849 (Kenrick, i. 83). 

2 Gibbon says that the Egyptian cubit was about twenty-two 
inches English measure (“Dec. and Fall,” cxxviii.) ; which would 
make the average inundation considerably greater than the French 
observations. 

3 Reguault’s Analysis (Wilkinson’s Ancient Egypt, iv. 50). 


20 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


retained till the ground is thoroughly saturated, thus 
leaves a sediment richer than any artificial dressing. 
The superfluous moisture is exhaled by the sun and 
wind; and the seed having been scattered broadcast, 
or sown in shallow furrows, is trodden in by cattle. 

The deposit is, of course, continually raising the level; 
which induced Herodotus to prophesy that the time 
would come when the inundation would be restrained 
by the elevation of the banks, and the country relapse 
into a desert. He forgot that the river also elevates its 
bed , and so maintains the same relative position with 
the fields. The tendency, in fact, is the other way; 
for as the stream naturally deposits the largest portion 
of its ingredients in and adjoining to its channel, 
these parts-rise faster than the more distant region. 
The floor of the valley is consequently arched upwards; 
the river flowing along the highest part, and its banks 
sloping downward on either side to the desert. This 
configuration, if properly attended to, would have the 
effect of gradually extending the area of inundation 
and culture. The dykes being opened when the Nile 
is at half height, the water is conducted by canals cut 
through the alluvium to the lowest and most distant 
levels first. The nearer lands are then gradually sub¬ 
merged, while the immediate banks remain uncovered, 
and form the principal highways. It is obvious that by 
lengthening and deepening the canals, as the slope in¬ 
creases, the waters might be carried further and further 
into the desert. In the absence of such measures the 
desert has indeed encroached on the cultivation ; but 
it is by the accumulation of its sands in the channels, 
not by the necessary elevation of the fields. 

To the Nile, also, the Egyptians owe their only 
drinking water. In its pure state it was accounted 


the valley of the file. 


21 


delicious, and even when most turbid it may be easily 
filtered. Modern travellers detract somewhat, in this 
as in many other instances, from the panegyrics of 
antiquity; but the Persian kings carried the Nile 
water with them for their own table; and a Homan 
general could reproach his soldiers for asking for wine 
in its presence. 

The same beneficent agency supplied the natives 
with their principal articles of food. The canals and 
lakes teemed with fish; the catching and curing of 
which forms a prominent feature in the monumental 
pictures of ancient life and occupation. Their surface 
was covered with water-fowl and aquatic plants, 
which entered largely into the diet of the poorer 
classes. The papyrus and the lotus, now almost 
unknown, furnished a cheap and abundant provision; 
the stalk and roots of both were eaten (like turnips 
among ourselves) boiled, roasted, and raw. The lotus- 
seeds, resembling beans, were ground and made into 
cakes. So varied was the supply, that in the desert 
the children of Israel looked back with bitter re- 
pinings to the products of the Nile and its saturated 
banks: “We remember the fish, which we did. eat in 
Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the 
leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: but now our soul 
is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this 
manna, before our eyes.” 1 It is thus that the un¬ 
regenerate, ever lusting after the delights of the world, 
despise the “bread of life which cometh down from 
heaven,” though to the spiritual mind “ sweeter than 
honey and the honeycomb.” 

The Nile, in short, was always the dominant feature 
of Egypt,—the source of all its animal and vegetable 
1 Numb- xi. 5, 6. 


22 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


life,—the centre of its agriculture, commerce, and social 
existence. The ancient idolaters worshipped it as a 
god, and its annual changes supplied the first division 
of the year into seasons. They were three, the seasons 
of Vegetation , Harvest , and Waters. In other countries, 
also, the seasons were originally three; and we may 
observe that among ourselves, spring , summer , and 
winter only have Anglo-Saxon names; and autumn is a 
later importation from the Latin . 1 The Egyptian 
seasons consisted of four months each, new-year’s-day 
being the first of the month Thoth, which properly 
corresponded with the rising of the Dog Star, and the 
beginning of the inundation. This was a little after 
midsummer, but, from the imperfection of the calendar, 
the civil year differed from the natural, and the 
seasons fell continually out of their proper months. 

Nature continues the same as of old. When the 
countries of Europe have put on the deep foliage of 
summer, Egypt lies bare and black as when its first 
settlers agreed at a glance on its name. At Michaelmas, 
when our landscape glows with golden crops, and 
ruddy fruits, and the thousand hues of forest and 
moor, the Delta is one turbid sea, spotted with villages 
and banks like islands and reefs. At Christmas the 
ground is spread with a carpet of the brightest green, 
embroidered with flowers, which spring up as if by 
enchantment on the abatement of the waters, furnish¬ 
ing a brilliant contrast to the bare yellow hills and 
sandy deserts which enclose the area. 

The vegetation is almost unintermitted. The trees 
are clothed with new leaves in February, as soon as 
the old ones have disappeared. This is the period of 
greatest beauty: the landscape, however, must have 
1 Dean Trench’s Glossary of English "Words— Harvest. 


THE TALLEY OE THE NILE. 


23 


been, always tame and monotonous. Forests there 
were never any : the clumps of date trees, the acacias, 
mulberries, and sycamores, standing singly or in rows 
by the wayside, with occasional orange and lemon 
groves, speak of no older and more majestic growth. 
The gigantic reeds which once thickly fringed the 
waters could have added little to the prospect. Grow¬ 
ing to a height of fifteen feet, and eighteen inches in 
circumference, they yielded an enormous quantity of 
pith, the filmy layers of which were separated and 
flattened into paper. These sedgy battalions no 
longer wave their broad flags in the breeze: the 
prophecy is fulfilled which said, “ The paper reeds by 
the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything 
sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and 
be no more .” 1 The lotus, too, another of the charac¬ 
teristics of Ancient Egypt, which at banquets filled the 
place of the rose among Greeks and Arabs, is no 
more. The flowers had no scent, and the fragrance 
of the hay field was unknown. 

This monotony in the vegetable kingdom was far 
from being compensated by variety in the animal. The 
larger beasts are mostly amphibious. The elephant, 
which once perhaps haunted the foot of the cataracts, 
where an island bears its name , 2 has long retreated 
into the depths of Africa. The hippopotamus is sel¬ 
dom seen below Upper Nubia, though once the com¬ 
panion of the crocodile, which may be still hunted m 
the higher Egyptian Nile. The lion, too, is now rare, 
though of old time he was often seen chasing the 
gazelles in the desert. The camel, now so frequent, 
was not indigenous, and is never found in the hiero¬ 
glyphics. The horse, anciently so much in repute, has 
1 Isa. xix. 7. 2 8ee note on P* 10, 


24 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


passed away with the military power of which he was 
the emblem . 1 Asses are still excellent; cattle, sheep, 
dogs, and formerly swine, are abundant. Birds, mostly 
divers and waders, still throng the islands and sand¬ 
banks, whence the sacred Ibis 2 has disappeared. 
Vultures and kites are the principal land birds; none 
are distinguished by beauty of plumage, or move¬ 
ment ; and the wide open plain could never be vocal 
with the pipe of feathered songsters. 

If nature, however, never wore a romantic aspect on 
the banks of the Nile, her uniformity was prolific in 
more substantial comforts. The high and even tempe¬ 
rature reduced the necessaries of life to the lowest 
point. Animal food and clothing were little needed: the 
slightest structures sufficed for habitations. On the 
other hand, the agricultural wealth was unparalleled. 
As soon as the wheat and barley were reaped, maize and 
rice were sown, to grow in the inundation, and yield a 
second harvest the same year. Max and cotton supplied 
the most appropriate raiment; while good father Nile 
took the husbandry on himself, asking neither deep 
ploughing, nor fallow, nor drainage, nor manure. 
Every year this unwearied farmer put more to the 
soil than was taken out of it, and Egypt was the very 
paradise of agriculturists. Their only care was to 
guard their easy earnings from the marauding Arabs, 
who, if their herds lacked pasturage in the desert, 
would, without scruple, drive them into the fields of 
their thriving neighbours, or levy a tribute for the 
exemption. It was doubtless with good reason that 

1 Gen. xlvii. 17; Exod. xv. 21; Deut. xvii. 16; 1 Kings x. 28,29; 
Psa. xxxiii. 17; cxlvii. 10; Isa. xxx. 16; xxxi. 1. 

2 The bones preserved in mummies show this famous bird to have 
been a kind of curlew. 


THE TALLEY OF THE NILE. 


25 


u every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyp¬ 
tians .” 1 

In addition to these unexampled blessings by land, 
the Nile offered its children the longest inland naviga¬ 
tion known to the old world. Long before ships stood 
out to sea, or boats were built in the Grecian Isles, 
the Egyptian peasant found the means of paddling 



not afraid to trust her precious babe . 2 The stalks of 
the papyrus were even found strong enough to serve 
for timbers, and be fashioned into regular boats 
—“ vessels of papyrus,”—conveying messengers from 
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia . 3 

The Nile was thus the earliest highway for com¬ 
merce. The flax furnished the sail; the north wind, 
blowing steadily for nine months in the year by day, 
rendered it easy.to ascend the stream; the latter 
again floated down the contrary traffic without effort 
by night. With these advantages the husbandman 
was enabled to barter with the city, the city to export 
its products, the whole nation to communicate with 
each other, and the processes of civilized government 
to develope with more than ordinary rapidity. 

2 Exod. ii. 3. 3 Isa. xviii. 2. 


1 Gen. xlvi. 34. 










26 


ANCIENT EGTPT. 


Still this favoured valley was not without its draw¬ 
backs. Its abundant population were always subject 
to “ evil diseases,” even though the plague should be 
a later importation. Eeptiles and noisome insects 
were always, as they still are, innumerable. Venomous 
serpents and scorpions, now seldom met with save in 
the desert, must have been more common in early days. 
Snakes, frogs, mosquitoes, wasps, and flies, are still 
the inmates of every habitation. Locusts, though 
rare at present, were perhaps more freqtlent visitors 
of old. Their devastations indeed were greater in 
Ethiopia and Arabia; but even in our own time 
flights of locusts occur, though at distant intervals, 
which darken the heavens like a snow-drift, and con¬ 
tinue unbroken for five or six days . 1 

The Nile was anciently connected with the Eed Sea 
by a canal from Bubastis, on the easternmost branch, 
to the immediate vicinity of the modern town of Suez. 
The execution of this important work, attributed to 
more than one of the ancient kings, had the effect of 
bringing under cultivation a large tract of land, now 
barren, in which the valley of Goshen is supposed to 
have been included. The mouth of the canal was fitted 
with sluices to exclude the sea-water during the time 
of inundation. The long vessels which are supposed 
to have conducted the Indian trade were probably 
admitted during the low Nile. Some authors say the 
canal was never finished, on account of the water in 
the Eed Sea having been found to stand at a higher 
level than that in the Mediterranean . 2 Others state 
that this difficulty was overcome by means of locks ; 

1 Such a visitation was witnessed by Lepsius in 1843 .—Letters 
from Egypt , etc. 

2 Diod. Sic. i 33; Strabo 17. 


THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 


27 


but it is now allowed that no such difficulty exists. 
The canal was certainly completed, and may still be 
traced, not only by the appearance of its channel, but 
by mounds and other vestiges of the towns which 
formerly stood on its banks. Being carried through 
the sands it was sure to fill up again without constant 
attention. The name of Baineses the Great, found in 
one of the towns on its banks, seems to show that it 
was at least as old as that celebrated monarch. It 
was probably re-opened by Necho, to whom Herodotus 
ascribes its construction, and again by the Ptolemies. 
Having once more gone to decay, it was restored by 
the caliphs on the revival of the Indian trade, and 
continued to be used till the course of that lucrative 
traffic was again diverted by the discovery of the pas¬ 
sage round the Cape of Good Hope. At the present 
moment a scheme is in active execution, under the 
sanction of the Pacha, to restore the water communi¬ 
cation, forgetting that for all purposes of commerce 
the rail has superseded the canal: the works are 
under the direction of a French company. 

Besides the land of Goshen, Ancient Egypt enjoyed 
some important dependencies, which are now ol little 
value through long neglect of the means of cultiva¬ 
tion. The Arsinoite nome, now called the Faioom, 
was a province of more than three hundred square 
miles, and one of the most fertile in Lower Egypt. It 
lies between Cairo and the Libyan desert, from which 
it is separated by a lake thirty-five miles long and 
seven broad, named the JBirJcet el Kerun. This appears 
to be the remains of the famous lake JS/Lceris , which 
the Greeks believed to have been excavated by a 
Pharaoh of that name. It was perhaps a natural 
pool and marsh enlarged by the erection of banks, and 




28 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


communicating with the Nile by Joseph’s River; or 
the dams may have run across the valley, like the bund 
of an Indian tank, in front of the Lake Rerun, so as to 
intercept the contents of Joseph’s River. The water 
rising during the inundation to the level of the 
Upper Nile, not only fertilized the adjacent valley, 
but constituted a standing reservoir against unfavour¬ 
able seasons. The decay of the dams has left nothing 
but the original pool, which is now brackish from the 
salt of the desert; but there is no ground for the 
conjecture of the Greeks, that it communicated by 
a subterraneous passage with the Mediterranean. 

The name of this famous lake, though connected 
with so many kings, is probably nothing but Mou res, 
“the southern water,” in contradistinction to the 
Mediterranean or Northern Sea. The soil of the 
Eaioom (from Phiom, “the lake”) is composed of 
Nile deposit, and was therefore certainly conveyed 
thither through the Bahr Jussuf: at present only an 
inconsiderable portion of the overflow reaches the 
Birket el Rerun, the general level having risen 
above that of the river. This insulated province con¬ 
tained the famous Labyrinth with the city of Croco- 
dilopolis; an obelisk yet standing probably marks its 
site, and is one of the oldest of Egyptian monuments. 

Still further from the Nile, and in the heart of the 
Great Libyan Desert, are the celebrated Oases. They 
lie in a sort of shallow valley, running through the 
desert, over an underground river, towards the sea at 
Cyrene. The largest, called the Theban Oasis from 
lying opposite to that city, is eighty miles in length, 
and ninety miles from the river at the nearest point. 
It still contains the city of Rhargeh, with a numerous 
population, besides several villages. A hundred 


THE TALLEY OE THE HILE. 


29 


miles to the west is the oasis of Dakkel, inhabited 
by twelve villages of Bedouin Arabs. The Little 
Oasis, considerably to the north, contains the town 
of Kasr and some other places. In this spot 
artesian wells have been discovered and re-opened, 
which yield jets of water from a depth of four or five 
hundred feet. By far the most remarkable of the 
oases is that of Siwah, five degrees west of Cairo. 
Here stood the celebrated temple and oracle of Jupiter 
Ammon, with the fountain of the sun, which, according 
to Herodotus, was warm at dawn, cold at noon, and 
boiling at midnight. Belzoni, who visited the spot in 
181(5, thought the water actually varied from about 
40° at noon to 100° at midnight; but as he had no 
thermometer, and only judged by his sensations, it is 
probable that the change was in his own temperature, 
not in that of the fountain. The latter is in a well 
sixty feet deep, thickly shaded with palm trees. 1 

These happy islands in the ocean desert owe their 
verdure not to being elevated above the sands, for 
they are, in fact, depressions in the general level, but 
to the springs which are doubtless led from the Nile by 
natural infiltration. Some of them are certainly hot, 
and they are copious enough to be used for irrigation. 


1 There was another temple and oracle of Jupiter at Dodona, m 
Greece * and the legend ran that two black pigeons, flying from 
Thebes’had alighted at these places, and marked them as sites fort e 
Deity! 3 The priests of Thebes assured Herodotus that the pigeons were 
really two Egyptian females connected with their temp e, w o 
been carried off and sold into slavery by Phoenician rovers, lheir 
dark complexion and foreign speech were quite enough with the 
Greek poets to metamorphose the poor priestesses into black pigeons. 


30 


CHAPTEK II. 

MONUMENTS OF LOWEB, EGYPT. 

Antiquity — Preservation — Hieroglyphics—Historical Importance — Delta — Mem¬ 
phis — Site — Origin—Temple of Phthah — Pyeamids — Etymology — Number — 
Three at Ghizeh — Sepulchres—Scientific Principles — Observatories — Inclined, 
Passages—Angle of Elevation—North Star — Construction — Inscriptions — Ap¬ 
pearance — Dimensions — Great Pyramid — Vault — Queen’s Chamber — King’s 
Chamber — Air-passages — Sarcophagus — Upper Spaces — Hieroglyphics — Well 
— Lepsius’s Theory—Structural Hypothesis—Second Pyramid — Vault — Sar¬ 
cophagus — Shafra — Bunsen’s Theory—Third Pyramid—Three Vaults — Sarco¬ 
phagus—Remains of Mycerinus — Inscription — Nitocris—Older Pyramids— 
TJashoor — Bricle-ioork — Sphinx — Greek Legend — Description — Tombs — 
Prince Merhet—Lepsius — Saccara — Fulfilment of Prophecy — Heliopolis — 
Obelisks. 

Next to the great river the eye is attracted in Egypt 
to the Monuments which stand in long procession c n 
its hanks, the witnesses of an unknown but profoun d 
antiquity. They are more abundant and more perfec t 
than the remains of any other country. India, the 
battle-field of countless generations, has nothing to 
compare with them. Babylon and Nineveh wrote 
their history in brick or perishable alabaster. Egypt, 
attaining to a greater superiority in art, was provided 
at the same time with a material well nigh indestruc¬ 
tible, and a climate which could bid defiance to the 
ravages of time. Its monuments, constructed of 
granite, serpentine, breccia, and basalt, are of gigantic 
proportions, ornamented with sculptures and the 
most brilliant painting. They have been preserved, 
by the dryness and uniformity of the temperature, in 
astonishing freshness both of outline and colour. 
With no frosts to splinter, no storms to batter, no 
moisture to nourish lichens and creepers, the ruins 


MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 


31 


remain as new in appearance as when they were built 
Outliving not their authors only, but their nation, 
religion, and history, these obdurate memorials con¬ 
front the traveller with a persistent youth. They 
suffer mutilation, but not decay. They are overthrown, 
broken, carried away to all the capitals of Europe; 
still, though in fragments and apart, they maintain 
the impress received from African civilization, when 
Europe was wholly barbarous. They guard immovably 
and for ever the reputation of their age. Covered with 
delineations of the battles, triumphs, and domestic 
life of the people who erected them, they seem resolved 
that Ancient Egypt shall never die. 

Still these monuments everywhere wrap themselves 
in mystery. They have a language as well as a story 
of their own. Strange characters are carved upon 
them, known to conceal a history which has perished 
from every other record; yet, though interrogated 
for ages, they have hitherto yielded no complete 
response. It is only within the present century that 
the key has been found to these mysterious archives, 
and their long-buried annals are still being slowly 
and painfully deciphered. 

The monuments are found throughout Egypt and 
its former dependencies in Ethiopia and Libya. 
Besides statues, tablets, and obelisks, they consist of 
ruined temples, palaces, and especially of sepulchres. 
The Egyptians esteemed their private dwellings as 
temporary habitations, for which it was sufficient to 
use perishable materials. Their granite was reserved 
for the abodes of the gods, the halls of their kings, and 
the tombs which they accounted the real homes of 
mankind. These memorials may be called the state 
papers of the Pharaohs,—the native and only authentic 


32 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


records of Ancient Egypt. Since the discovery of the 
key to their inscriptions, its history, previously derived 
from the reports of the Greek authors, has been 
written anew. 

It is indispensable to have some idea of materials 
which are daily increasing in interest with the civilized 
world. To pretend to enumerate them in the order 
of date would be to determine beforehand the most 
important question dependent on their testimony. 
We shall, therefore, now reascend the Egyptian por¬ 
tion of the great river whicn we have traced from its 
source, for the purpose of noting the principal antiqui¬ 
ties on either bank. 

Alexandria, where the European traveller debarks, 
is a city too modern to be comprehended in the 
present survey. Its predecessor, Canopus, stood at 
the mouth of the Nile, about twelve miles to the east¬ 
ward, but the exact position is unknown. It was not, 
indeed, till towards the end of the ancient dynasties 
that Egypt opened any access to foreigners by sea. 
Naucratis, the first open port, was founded on the left 
side of the Canopic mouth by Psamaticus (b.c. 648— 
614), and from that period Europe began its know¬ 
ledge of Egypt. Other native ports of earlier days 
were Sais and Pelusium: the former was the site of 
one of the most celebrated temples of Lower Egypt, 
and the alleged place of embarkation of Cecrops when 
he sailed, in a boat made of papyrus, to Attica. It is 
not, however, till the Delta has been passed, and the 
traveller reaches the undivided Nile, that the more 
important monuments are encountered. 

Ten miles above Cairo, at the then apex of the 
Delta, stood the ancient city of Memphis , the seat of 
the earliest monarchy, and the capital of Lower 



MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 33 

Egypt. It was on the western side of the river, 
having a circumference of fifteen miles, and probably 
occupying the entire valley to the foot of the Lybian 
hills. At present it is represented by a few mounds 
near the village of Mitrahenny, covered with corn and 
grass, interspersed with date trees. The Nile here 
makes a bend to the north-west, and traces are said to 
remain of an arm in that direction. The tradition 
was that Menes, the founder, obtained a site for his 
capital by damming up this branch, and restraining 
the water to the eastern or main channel. This would 
be. in effect, to throw the point of separation and the 
apex of the Delta lower down the river; but it is not 
probable that so adventurous a piece of engineering 
would be attempted at the early period assigned to it. 
The first Memphis, doubtless, stood in the angle 
defended by the two branches; it was not till a 
later period, when one of them was become shallower 
from natural causes, and a want of room was expe¬ 
rienced by an increasing population, that the work of 
nature was hastened by throwing up a dam, and occu¬ 
pying the dry bed behind it. This would account for 
the double tradition of its founder; Herodotus ascrib¬ 
ing the city to Menes the first king, and Diodorus to 
a monarch many centuries later. 

At Memphis was the great temple of Phthah, the 
chief divinity of Lower Egypt, with the celebrated 
hall of Apis. The only remaining monument, how¬ 
ever, is a colossal figure of Baineses the Great, fallen 
on its face, and mutilated at both extremities, but 
which, when perfect, must have stood nearly forty- 
three feet high. It is doubtless one of the two statues 
thirty cubits in height which, according to Herodotus, 
were erected by Sesostris in front of the temple. 

D 


34 


ANCIENT EGYPT, 


The most famous monuments of Memphis and of 
Egypt are the Pyramids —structures so peculiarly 
belonging to the Memphite monarchy, that a pyra¬ 
mid is the hieroglyphic sign of the city. The word 
seems to be derived from perami , “lofty,” and is 
thought to be the same with the Hebrew charaboth , 
which in Job iii. 14 obviously signifies a sepulchre, 
though rendered in our version “ desolate places.” 
Living in Arabia, Job would be well acquainted 
with these remarkable erections, and their purport 
is exactly expressed in his words— 

“ For now should I have lain still and been quiet, 

I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 

With kings and counsellors of the earth 
Who built themselves pyramids .” 

A considerable number of pyramids of different 
sizes are disposed along the Libyan ridge, from below 
Cairo to the Eaioom district. As many as sixty have 
been counted; but they obtained little attention till 
the recent explorations of Perring, and the Prussian 
commission under Lepsius. The following is a list of 
twenty-seven, which Bunsen supposes to cover the 
remains of as many sovereigns of Memphis: they are 
enumerated in the order in which they stand from 
north to south. Aboo Roash (only the base remaining) ; 
Ghizeli (3) ; Zowet el Arrian , Reegah, Abousir (3) ; 
Bokhara (9); Dashoor (4); Lisht (2); Meidoun , 
Illahoun, and the Labyrinth. 

Of these pyramids the first to challenge attention 
are the famous Three at Grhizeh, whose superior size 
and grandeur have almost monopolized the name, and 
long ranked them amid the wonders of the world. 
That these structures were designed to cover the 



MONUMENTS OP LOWEIt EGYPT. 


35 


graves of their founders is a point no longer in doubt, 
since sepulchral vaults have been discovered with the 
remains of the dead; but that this was their sole 
intention is not yet beyond a question. No traces 
exist of their being ever intended (as was once sup¬ 
posed) for temples; though some ruins on the east 
sides of each may be the remains of such edifices. 

The pyramids are ascertained to have been con¬ 
structed on geometrical and astronomical principles ; 1 
the base of each being an exact square, and the sides 
corresponding with the four cardinal points. No 
such arrangement is observable in Egyptian temples, 
where the points of the compass w*ere not at all re¬ 
garded, and no two of them face in the same direc¬ 
tion. In this particular the pyramids resemble the 
primitive “ temple towers” of Babylon, save that in 
the latter it was the angles, not the sides, which 
fronted the cardinal points. The Chaldsean pyramids, 
too, were oblique, the slope being steeper on the 
south-western face than on the opposite; but the 
Egyptian are equal on all sides, and the apex is 
exactly in the middle. At Babylon, the entrance was 
in the north-east face; at Memphis, in the northern, 
the passage descending at an angle of about 26^ 
degrees 2 to the subterranean vault. 

1 In the Great Pyramid the perpendicular height is to the base as 
5 to 8, and the base is to the slant height as half the base to the 
perpendicular. Baron von Bunsen has drawn out the design on 
mathematical principles, and shown that it consisted of four right- 
angled triangles, whose pei'pendicular sides coincide, their hypo- 
thenuses being the corners or edges of the four faces. Instead of the 
right angle, however, his calculations give an angle of 41° 28* 23". 
He finds, also, the several chambers to be placed on proportionate 
levels; the Queen’s at }th, the King’s at :'ths, and the upper space 
at fths the perpendicular height. 

2 Great Pyramid, 26° 40'; Third ditto, 26° P. 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


86 

According to Diodorus, the great tower of the Temp" , 
of Belus, in Babylon, was used as an observatory, 1 and 
his statement is held to be confirmed by the astrono¬ 
mical emplacement of the angles. 2 The emplacement 
is equally exact in the pyramids of Memphis. It is 
true that the Babylonian structures terminated in a 
level platform, with a flight of steps to conduct to it, 
whil6 the Egyptian ones are assumed to have been 
continued to a point, with no means of ascending the 
sides. The fact, however, is, that several of the 
smaller pyramids still terminate in platforms; and it 
is obvious that all must have done so before the 
apex was completed. 3 This may have been delayed 
till the death of the founder, when the observatory 
was converted into a tomb. The Second pyramid, of 
which the summit is the least injured, has at this day 
a platform of nine feet square, and Diodorus expressly 
states that it had an ascent cut in one of the sides. 

A question may be raised, also, how far the heavenly 
bodies may have been observed from the interior, by 
means of the inclined passages by which they are 
pierced. One of these in the Great pyramid is 3-12 
feet long, and so accurately executed that the sky is 
visible from the furthest end. Through this pro¬ 
digious tube, and in that cloudless atmosphere, the 
stars might-have been easily observed at noonday. 
Moreover, the angle of elevation is ascertained to 
have pointed exactly to the star a of Draco, w r hich was 
the pole-star about 2000 years b.c* —a fact which 

1 Diod. Sic., ii. 9. 

2 Smith’s Diet. Bible, 160. 

3 Diod. Sic., i. 63. This author seems to sa} r that all the pyra¬ 
mids were six cubits square at the top. 

4 See the calculations of Sir. J. Herschel in the Appendix to 
Nyse's Pyramids, vol. ii., p. 107. 


MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 


37 


may prove to be an important criterion in determining 
the date of these mysterious antiquities. 

The pyramids are of stone, and were probably built 
(like those of Babylon) in courses or stages, each reced¬ 
ing within the lower, and regularly diminishing to the 
top, thus presenting on all four sides a succession of 
huge steps, which Herodotus calls altarets. On arriving 
at the top, the steps were filled out, or planed down, to 
a slope, and finished with a casing of fine white stone, 
working downward, so that on again reaching the 
ground the pyramid stood smooth and level on every 
side. The entrance was concealed under the casing, 
the slab which covered its mouth being left loose. 

The casing was stripped off by the caliphs, who 
plundered the pyramids, and carried away its fine 
blocks to assist in building their new capital at 
Cairo. The Arabian writers speak of their being 
covered with numerous inscriptions, but Herodotus 
mentions only one, which was on the Great pyramid, 
and recorded the sums expended on radishes, onions, 
and garlic, for the workmen, amounting, as it was 
read to him, to 1600 talents of silver (£310,000). 
Diodorus expressly states there was no inscription on 
the Second pyramid; and none exists on any part of 
the casing which remains, or on the stones found at 
the base, or traced in the buildings at Postat and 
Cairo. There is the less hesitation in rejecting the 
Moslem statement, since Perring has ascertained that 
the surface was carefully planed down by the 
•builders. 

At present the sides again present the appearance 
of rude steps, by which the top may be reached with 
no great difficulty. The continued spoliations of ages 
have lowered the summits and encumbered the bases 


38 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


with rubbish; circumstances which combine with the 
simple triangular outline to reduce the apparent mag¬ 
nitude of the pyramids. Standing solitary in the 
desert, remote from the abodes ot men, with neither 
trees nor other objects of comparison in view, their 
first appearance is so little imposing, that the travel¬ 
ler experiences a sensation of disappointment. It is 
only after reflection and computation, aided by ob¬ 
serving the human pigmies crawling up and down 
their sides, that he attains with difficulty to some just 
conception of their enormous magnitude. The im¬ 
pression is deepened almost into awe, when it is re¬ 
membered that they are, beyond question, the oldest 
works of man in existence. They have stood un¬ 
changed, while empires rose and fell by their side, 
pointing to those cloudless skies, immovable and un¬ 
decaying, for, perhaps, near four thousand years. 

The following are the dimensions of these stupen¬ 
dous monuments, as measured by Mr. Perring. 1 

1st Pyramid. 2nd. 3rd. 


t -a t A v 



Present. 

Original. 

Present. 

Original 

Present. 

Original. 

Sides of the base ... 

.feet 

746 

767 

690 

705 

352 

352 

Slant height. 


568 

614 

563 

577 

— 

283 

Perpendicular height 


450 

479 

447 

457 

203 

219 

Angle of elevation . 

• J7 

— 

51-20 

— 

52-21 

v_ 

51-10 

Area of the base, sq-. yards 

61,835 

65,437 

I 

53,015 

55,320 

13,835 


1 Baron Bunsen has pointed out that, in the present state of di¬ 
lapidation, no admeasurements, however carefully taken, are more 
than an approximation. He has calculated the original dimensions 
on mathematical principles, as designed by the architects, and his 
results are here followed. He reckons the Egyptian cubit at 1-713 
English foot. 



















MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 39 















40 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The Great pyramid is, therefore, more than half as 
long again on every side as Westminster Abbey, and, 
though deprived of more than thirty feet by the re¬ 
moval of its apex, it is still fifty feet higher than the 
top of St. Paul’s, and more than twice as high as the 
central tower of York Minster. It covers thirteen 
acres of ground, equal to the area of Lincoln’s Inn 
Yields, and is computed to have contained 6,848,000 
tons of solid masonry. 

It covers a subterranean vault in the rock, directly 
under the apex, and reached by a sloping passage 
from the entrance in the northern face. This vault, 
which measures forty-six feet by twenty-seven, is 
ninety feet perpendicular below the base of the pyra¬ 
mid. It is still, however, above the level of the Nile; 
and as Perring sank thirty-six feet further without 
discovering any lower excavation, the statement of 
Herodotus, that its waters were introduced by a 
subterranean passage, in order to insulate the corpse 
and treasures of the founder, is clearly erroneous. 
No sepulchral remains having at any time been found 
in this vault, it is probable that its owner’s pains 
were wasted, and his body never reached the resting- 
place prepared at so great a cost. 

The pyramid itself contains two chambers w r hich 
have received the appellation of King's and Queen's. 
The latter is perpendicular over the subterranean 
vault at a distance of forty cubits, or one seventh the 
entire height from the base. It is lined with slabs 
of polished stone, very carefully finished, and artisti¬ 
cally roofed with blocks leaning against each other 
to resist the pressure of the mass above. This apart¬ 
ment is reached by a second sloping passage, which 
rises at an angle of 26° 18' out of the first, about 


MONUMENTS OE LOWER EGYPT. 


41 


sixty feet within the entrance, 1 and terminates in 
a gallery or hall twenty-eight feet high. From the 
entrance of the gallery a horizontal passage, 109 feet 
long, leads to the “ queen’s chamber,” which measures 
17 feet (north and south) by 18 wide, and is 20 
feet high to the top of the inclined blocks. It is 
said to have contained an empty sarcophagus when en¬ 
tered by the Arabians. 

The gallery continues to ascend at the same inclina¬ 
tion till it reaches a sort of vestibule, which leads to 
the “ king’s chamber.” The floor of this apartment 
is at exactly two sevenths the perpendicular height 
of the pyramid, but instead of occupying the centre 
from face to face, it is placed a little to the south 
and east, and is consequently not perpendicularly 
over the queen’s chamber and the subterranean 
vault. The chamber itself is finished with as much 
care as the other, and measures 34 feet by 17, and 
19 in height. The north and south walls are pierced 
by two shafts or tubes, about eight inches square, slant¬ 
ing up through the entire fabric, to the exterior of the 
pyramid. That which opens on the northern face is 
233 feet long, that on the south being about 60 feet 
shorter. These are termed air-passages or ventilators, 
but no similar provision occurs in any other part of the 
pyramid, and such a use is unintelligible in a sepulchral 
chamber, carefully barred against future access. 

It deserves to be considered whether these pas¬ 
sages were not designed for telescopes , and the 
chamber for an observatory, before it became a 
tomb. The two tubes would appear to converge on 
the floor of the chamber, where a pan of water might 
reflect the heavenly bodies as they crossed the orifice, 
1 From the original exterior 85 feet. See £ unsen. 


42 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


just as the solstice was observed in the well at Syene, 
and as the stars are noted at this day in a vessel 
of mercury, suspended at the bottom of a deep shaft 
in the Eoyal Observatory at Greenwich. The sun’s 
meridian on the one side, and the north star on the 
other, might have been thus observed; and that north 
and south were important points, is shown by all the 
sarcophagi being found lying in that direction. 

The objection to this hypothesis is, that the northern 
tube is not straight, and consequently the sky is not 
visible from the chamber; but may not this be a 
mistake of the explorers in opening it out ? It seems 
improbable that the original design should have been 
other than straight; and moreover, the angle of the 
southern tube is found to be exactly forty-five degrees. 

The “king’s chamber” contained a red granite 
sarcophagus without a lid; it was empty, and had 
neither sculpture nor inscription of any kind. The 
door was guarded by a succession of four heavy stone 
portcullises, intended to be let down after the body 
was deposited, and impenetrably seal up the access. 
The roof of the chamber is flat; and, in order to take 
off the weight above, five spaces, or entre sols , have 
been left in the structure. 1 On the wall of one of 
these garrets, never intended to be entered, General 
Yyse discovered, in 1836, what had been searched 
for in every other part of the pyramid in vain. Drawn 
in red ochre, apparently as quarry marks on the stones 
previously to their insertion, 2 are several hieroglyphic 
characters, among which is seen the oval ring which 

1 The lowest of these was discovered by Davison in 1763, and is 
called by his name. The others were detected by Yyse, who named 
them respectively Wellington, Nelson, Arbuthnot, and Campbell. 

2 The marks are observed to be only on the large stones brought 
from Mocattam » 


MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 


43 


encircles the royal titles, and within it a name which 
had already been noticed on an adjoining tomb. 
Oh the latter it was read Shufu or Ghufu , a word 
sufficiently near in the Egyptian pronunciation to 
Cheops, whom Herodotus gives as the founder of the 
largest pyramid. It is to be observed, however, 
that in the pyramid itself, the name is joined with 
two other characters, reading Num or Kneph , the oldest 
Egyptian name for the divinity. As Eratosthenes 
mentions a Sensuphis, and Manetho a Suphis II., 
who succeeded the first Suphis, it is presumed that 
Kneph Chufu is the hieroglyphic name of that king. 
It is further presumed that the subterranean vault 
was constructed for the first monarch, and the “ king’s 
chamber” for his successor, by whose order the 
pyramid was completed. 

One of the most singular features in this py¬ 
ramid is a perpendicular shaft descending from the 
gallery in front of the queen’s chamber down to the 
entrance passage underground, a depth of 155 feet. 
The workmanship shows that this well was sunk 
through the masonry after the completion of the 
pyramid, in all probability as an outlet for the 
masons, after barring the sloping ascent with a 
mass of granite on the inside, which long concealed 
its existence. The lower opening of the well was 
closed with a similar stone: the builders then with¬ 
drawing by the northern entrance, which was both 
barricaded and concealed under the casing, left the 
interior, as they supposed, inaccessible to man. 

These extraordinary precautions go to confirm 
the tradition related by Herodotus, that Cheops 
was not buried in the vault he had prepared, but 
secretly in some safer retreat, on account of violence 


44 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


apprehended from the people. As no other pyra¬ 
mid is known to contain an upper room, it 
seems not improbable that the “queen’s chamber” 
was the refuge ■where his mummy lay concealed 
while the vault was broken open and searched in 
vain. 

Lepsius has shown that the pyramids were con¬ 
structed by degrees. The vault was excavated, and 
a course of masonry laid over it, in the first year of 
the king’s reign. If he died before a second was 
constructed, the corpse was interred, and the pyramid 
built up solid above. With every year of the king’s 
life an addition was made to the base as well as to 
the superstructure, so that the years of the reign 
might have been numbered by the accretions, as the 
age of a tree by its annual rings. When the last 
year came, the steps were filled out to a plain surface, 
the casing put on, and the royal corpse conveyed 
through the slanting passage to its resting-place in 
the rock. On this hypothesis the queen’s chamber, 
having been, perhaps, constructed as an observatory, 
lay unsuspected in the centre of the pyramid when 
the founder died. 

His successor, instead of laying a separate founda¬ 
tion, determined to raise his pyramid on the top of the 
other. From the apex of the latter he constructed the 
horizontal passage leading to the “king’s chamber,” 
which was thus pushed out of the centre, and then 
enlarging the base, and continuing the pyramid up¬ 
ward as usual, it finally attained its present dimen¬ 
sions. Thus, the queen’s chamber, the real burying- 
place of Cheops, became to his successor’s pyramid 
what the subterranean vault was to the others; and 
the king’s chamber may have been contrived with 


MONUMENTS OE LOWER EGYPT. 


45 


equal secresy for an observatory in life, and a safe 
resting-place in death. 1 

The Second pyramid stands about 500 feet to the 
south-west of the First, and is so placed that the dia¬ 
gonals of both are in a right line. It is somewhat 
smaller, but stands on higher ground. The construc¬ 
tion is similar to the other, save that no chamber has 
been discovered above ground. It was surrounded 
by a pavement, through which a second entrance, in 
front of the northern face, descends deep into the 
rock, and then rises again to meet the usual passage 
from the regular opening in the face of the pyramid. 
From the point of junction a horizontal passage leads 
to a vault, which bears the name of Belzoni; it 
measures forty-six feet by sixteen, and is twenty-two 
feet in height. It is entirely hewn in the rock, with 
the exception of the roof, which is formed of vast 
limestone blocks, leaning against each other and 
painted inside. When discovered, this vault con¬ 
tained a plain granite sarcophagus, without inscrip¬ 
tion, sunk into the floor. The lid was half destroyed, 
and it warn full of rubbish. Some bones found in the 
interior turned out to be the remains of oxen; but the 
sarcophagus was not large enough to admit more than 
a human mummy. Besides the large vault, Belzooi 
found a smaller one, eleven feet long, and a third, 

1 Bunsen supposes the queen’s chamber to have been intended 
for the performance of funeral rites; but no such \ise can be esta¬ 
blished from anything known of the Egyptian obsequies, nor is the 
chamber found in any other of the numerous pyramids which cover 
the dead. Its destination must remain a matter of pure conjecture, 
and that in the text is at least as probable as any other. If these 
kings were astronomers, or rather astrologers, they might well desiie 
a secret chamber for their observations. In fact, the ancient tradi¬ 
tion was that astronomy had been practised in secret by the Egyp¬ 
tians for thousands of years before it was divulged to the rest of the 
world .—Sir G. C. Lewis’s Ancient Astronomy , p. 264. 


46 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


measuring thirty-four feet by ten, and eight feet five in 
height, but neither contained any sepulchral remains. 

The general workmanship of this pyramid is in¬ 
ferior to that of the larger one. It retains its outer 
casing for about 150 feet from the top, and is, conse¬ 
quently, more difficult of ascent. No name has been 
found on any part of the Second pyramid, and its 
erection is not mentioned by Manetho. A tradition 
preserved by Diodorus assigned it to Amasis 1 ; but 
an adjacent tomb contains an inscription to a royal 
architect, in which the monarch is called “ Shafra the 
Great of the Pyramid,” and this has been supposed to 
be Chephren , the brother of Cheops, to whom Hero¬ 
dotus ascribes the Second pyramid. 2 

Some Egyptologists consider the Second pyramid 
in size to be the first in point of date, and the real 
work of Cheops. Bunsen has elaborated a theory 
according to which Shafra was the son, and Kneph 
Chufu the brother, of Cheops, whom they succeeded 
as joint sovereigns. These were the authors of the 
Great pyramid; the brother appropriating the sub¬ 
terranean vault, and the son the king’s chamber. 
Lepsius, however, thinks it cannot be doubted, after 
his researches, that the Second pyramid is the work 
of Shafra, the Eirst of Chufu or Cheops, and the 
Third of Menkera or Mycerinus. 3 

The Third or Bed pyramid—so called from the 

1 Diod. Sic., i. 63. 

2 According to Diodorus his name was Chabryis , and Cheops was 
his father, not his brother. 

3 “letters from Egypt." This ingenious discoverer has em¬ 
ployed his great talents, not only in deciphering forgotten antiqui¬ 
ties, but in making new ones. We may smile at his nationality in 
lighting up a Christmas tree in the king’s chamber, and kindling 
three bonfires on the tops of the pyramids at New Year’s eve; but 
we cannot sympathize with the taste which dictated the painting of 


MONUMENTS OE LOWER EGYPT. 


47 


colour of the granite casing which covered the lower 
half, and has protected its base from diminution—is 
described by the classical writers as the most sump¬ 
tuous and magnificent of all. It certainly surpasses 
the other two in beauty and regularity of construc¬ 
tion. It covers a suite of three subterranean cham¬ 
bers, reached as usual by a sloping passage from the 
northern face. The first is an anteroom twelve feet 
long, the walls panelled in white stucco. Its door was 
blocked by huge stones, and when these had been re¬ 
moved, three granite portcullises, in close succession, 
guarded the vault beyond. In this apartment, which 
measures forty-six feet by twelve, and is nearly under 
the apex of the pyramid, a sarcophagus had apparently 
been sunk, but none remained. The floor was covered 
with its fragments (as Perring supposed) in red granite; 
and Bunsen ascribes the fracture to Egyptian violence. 
Others, however,imagine these fragments to be only the 
chippings made by the masons in fitting the portcullises. 

Beyond and below this vault is a second, somewhat 
smaller, in which General Vyse found an elegant 
sarcophagus of basalt: “ the outside was very beauti¬ 
fully carved in compartments in the Doric style,” 1 or 
rather “ had the deep cornice which is characteristic of 
the Egyptian style.” 2 It was empty, and the lid was 
found broken in the larger apartment. This valuable 
relic being very brittle, and in danger of disappearing 

a laudatory inscription on Friedrich Wilhelm IV. of Prussia, com¬ 
posed in hieroglyphics , on the Pyramid of Cheops. The taste and 
propriety of recording, in such a place and character, that this 
monarch was the chosen of Germany and the giver of life (!) 
may well be questioned. And we must protest against a confusion 
of conjecture and chronology which dated the inscription “in the 
year 3164 from the Sothic period of King Menephthes,” with no less 
confidence than in the year of our Lord 1842. 

1 Bunsen, ii. 68. 2 Kennck, l. 131. 


48 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


under the curiosity of visitors, General Vyse removed 
the sarcophagus with great difficulty, and embarked it 
for England in 1838, but the vessel which conveyed it 
unfortunately went down off the coast of Spain. 

This pyramid was opened by the Moslems in the 
thirteenth century, when, the narrator states, “nothing 
was found but the decayed rotten remains of a man, 
but no treasures on his side, excepting some golden 
tablets, inscribed with characters which nobody could 
understand.” 1 This account does not specify in which 
of the two chambers the body was found; but as the 
writer mentions “ a blue basin,” and the sarcophagus 
found by Vyse exhibited that colour at its fractures, 
it was probably the same. Some portion of the re¬ 
mains were found in the outer apartment, along with 
the lid of the sarcophagus, and they are now deposited 
with it in the British Museum. They consist of a part 
of a skeleton, with some woollen cloth, and some of 
the resinous gum with which it had been embalmed. 2 3 

The lid of the sarcophagus bears an inscription in 
hieroglyphic characters, arranged in two perpendicular 
columns, which has been translated by Mr. Birch as 
follows:— 


Osirian (deceased) 

King 

Menkaru-ra 
Living for ever 
Engendered of Heaven! 
Child of Netpe 
Offspring 

[Beloved by Seb. (Time)] 
Extended is thy mother 


Netpe 
over thee 
in her name of 
the void of Heaven: 
she has made thee 
to be as a god 
[annihilating] 
thy slanderers 
0 King Menkaru-ra 
Living for ever!” 3 


1 Vyse, ii. 71. 

2 The knee-bone of the corpse is so strangely enlarged that some 
doubt has been expressed whether it was ever regularly embalmed. 

3 We offer the following version of this oldest of epitaphs:— 


MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 49 

Netpe, here called the mother of the king, is 
slated to be the “ void of heaven,” that is, the starry 
heavens, on which account she was called also the 
mother of Osiris, who was confounded with the sun. 

The most important part of the epitaph is the king’s 
name, which is at once identified with Mycerinus , 
to whom Herodotus attributes the Third pyramid. 
He mentions, however, another legend which ascribed 
it to a beautiful woman; and Manetho says it was 
erected by Queen Nitocris, the last of the old Mem¬ 
phite sovereigns whose names he has preserved, and 
who lived 300 years later than Mencheres, of whom 
he knew nothing worthy of mention. The contradic¬ 
tion has been explained from the traces of two sarco¬ 
phagi, and from other appearances which indicate the 
structure to be of two different ages. The original 
pyramid, which is thought to have been much smaller, 
may have covered the remains of Mycerinus, while 
Nitocris constructed the outer vault for herself, and 
enclosed the whole in the existing pyramid. In this 
case we must suppose the queen to have reinterred 
the remains of Mycerinus, whose sarcophagus was 
cut in panels of the same workmanship with the 
walls of her own vault, and of course to have added 
the epitaph found on its lid. 

The questions still remain who Nitocris was P and 
when she lived ? Of Manetho’s Memphite queen no 
trace has ever been discovered on the monuments. 

“ Rest thee, Mycerinus, rest 
"With Osiris ever blessed; 

Child of heaven, the heaven is o’er thee, 

Mother thine whose bosom bore thee, 

She has rescued thee from wrong, 

She has silenced slander’s tongue. 

Rest thee, god-like Pharaoh, rest; 

Mycerinus ever blessed!” 


50 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Mr. Sharpe would identify her with the Theban Prin¬ 
cess Numpt Amun, many centuries later; while many 
Greek writers affirm that the pyramid was built by 
the wife of Psamaticus of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. 
It is certain that this king’s wife bore the name of 
Nitocris, and Lepsius has discovered that her husband 
assumed that of Mycerinus. 1 Hence it is possible that 
the Third pyramid may be 2000 years later than the 
Pirst. It should be added that its entrance was not con¬ 
cealed, and the name of Mycerinus was written over it. 2 

The pyramids of Ghizeh have been considered the 
oldest of Egyptian antiquities; but the researches 
of Lepsius seem to ascribe a still greater antiquity 
to some of the smaller pyramids in the neighbour¬ 
hood. Two at Dashoor are constructed of crude 
brick; one of these Sir Gardner Wilkinson sup¬ 
posed to be that described by Herodotus, as erected 
by Asychis the lawgiver. Baron Bunsen has en¬ 
deavoured to identify this name with a predecessor 
of Cheops; but the hypothesis rests on a slender 
foundation, and is inconsistent with the statement 
of Herodotus, who places Asychis after Mycerinus. 
The later date is supported by the superiority of 
construction mentioned by the Greek writer, and 
confirmed by Mr. Perring: though built upon the 
sand, not a single brick has slipped from its place. 
It contains carvings also of a later date, and the 
occurrence of hieratic characters in the inscriptions 
is decisive of a comparatively late period. 3 

At the eastern edge of the platform of Gliizeh lies 

1 Chron. der J2gyp., ap Lewis, p. 571. 

2 Diod. Sic., i. 164. (Vyse’s Pyramids, ii. 120.) This author 
notices a tradition which gave this pyramid to Inaron and the 
Second to Amasis. 

3 Kenrick, i. 146, 


MONUMENTS OE LOWER EGYPT. 


51 


the Great Sphinx, a fabulous monster, compounded 
of the bust of a man, with the body and legs of a lion. 
This combination is supposed to symbolize the union 
of intellect and power required in a king. The con¬ 
ception originated apparently in Thebes, and seems as 
intimately connected with that city as the pyramid is 
with Memphis. This gigantic monster is consequently 
some centuries later than the neighbouring pyra¬ 
mids. Bunsen is inclined to assign it to Thothmes IV., 1 
who is represented, in a tablet on the breast of the 
Sphinx, offering incense and libations. 2 

It is remarkable that neither Herodotus, Diodorus, 
nor any classical writer before the Roman period, men¬ 
tions this extraordinary monument, though the legend 
of the Sphinx connected with the Grecian Thebes must 
undoubtedly have been brought from Egypt. Accord¬ 
ing to the Greek poets, the Sphinx had the bust and 
voice of a woman , the body of a dog, the tail of a ser¬ 
pent, the wings of a bird, and the paws of a lion. It 
was sent into the neighbourhood of Thebes (in Boeotia) 
by Juno, who persecuted the family of Cadmus (an 
emigrant from Egypt), and there ravaged the country 
by proposing enigmas, and devouring those who failed 
to resolve them. CEdipus, the king’s son, having un¬ 
dertaken to encounter the monster, she demanded of 
him what animal walks in the morning on four feet, 
at noon on two, and in the evening on one ? He an¬ 
swered Man , who in the morning of his life crawls on 

1 See chapter xiii. 

2 Lepsius would be “better satisfied” to think the Sphinx one of 
a pair designed to flank the entrance to “the temple of Chephren, 
which he assumes to have stood on the east face of the Second pyra¬ 
mid. He allows, however, that he has nowhere found the represen¬ 
tation of the Sphinx in the times of the pyramid builders .—Letters 
from Egypt, p. 48. 


52 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


hands and feet, walks erect in manhood, and in the 
evening of his days supports himself on a staff. On 
hearing this answer, the Sphinx dashed her head 
against a rock and expired. 

In this tale the poets largely improved on the tra¬ 
dition brought them from Egyptian Thebes. There 
the Sphinx was without wings, and (with a few excep¬ 
tions representing female sovereigns) had the face 
and beard of a man. It was an enigma, perhaps, to 
the Greek spectator; but there was no Egyptian tra¬ 
dition of its framing riddles or being endowed with life. 

The Sphinx of Ghizeh is carved out of the living 
rock, excavated for the purpose t& a depth of above 
sixty feet. The sands had so accumulated about the 
figure, that only the head, neck, and top of the 
back were visible, when Caviglia cleared the front a 
few years ago, at an expense of £800 or £900, con¬ 
tributed by some European gentlemen. The figure 
lies with its face to the Nile, with the paws protruded, 
in an attitude of majestic repose. The countenance 
has the semi-negro, or Ancient Egyptian, cast of fea¬ 
tures, but is much injured by the Arabs hurling their 
spears and arrows at the “ idol.” Fragments of the 
beard have been found, and some traces of red 
remain on the cheeks, which are perhaps of a later 
date. The head was covered with a cap, of which 
only the lower part remains. It is named in the hiero¬ 
glyphics JLar-em-chu , “ Horus in the horizonthat 
is to say, the Sun-god, the type of all the kings. This 
name is translated in one of the Greek inscriptions 
Harma-chis; from which possibly came the fable of 
Pliny, that a certain king Amasis (Armasis?) was 
entombed in the Sphinx. 1 

1 Lepsius’s Letters, vii. 


MONUMENTS OF LOWER EGYPT. 


53 


The height from the crown of the head to the floor 
between the paws is seventy feet; the body is a 
hundred and forty feet in length, and the paws pro¬ 
trude fifty feet more. Between them was the altar or 
temple where sacrifices were performed to the Deity, 
which was apparently the Genius of the Theban 
monarchy. Bameses the Great is among the wor¬ 
shippers, and inscriptioiis on the paws testify to the 
continuance of the rite in the B-oman age. A small 
building on the steps in front is inscribed to the 
emperor Severus, who visited Egypt a.e. 202. 

From the floor, where the altar stood, a flight of forty- 
three steps ascended to a platform, whence an inclined 
plane led to the top of the rock facing the Sphinx. 
The whole intermediate space had been excavated with 
prodigious labour. Nothing could be grander than 
the appearance of this mysterious creature fronting 
the worshippers, and rising more and more over their 
heads, as they descended the long flights of steps to 
lay their offerings at its feet. 

The hill of Ghizeh abounds in tombs of various 
ages, and more than a hundred have been opened 
by Lepsius. Their contents, which are among the 
latest contributions to the knowledge of Egyptian 
antiquities, seem to establish a nearer resemblance, 
than might previously have been supposed, between 
the habits of the ancient Memphites and those of 
Central and Upper Egypt. One tomb, adorned with 
pillars, and brilliantly painted, was the resting-place of 
a “ Prince Merhet,” a priest, and, as Lepsius thinks 
“more than probable,” a son, of Chufu; he is de¬ 
scribed as “superintendent of the royal buildings. 
From these tombs the enthusiastic explorer says—“ I 
could almost write a court and state directory 1 of the 
1 Letters, iv. 


54. 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


time of King Cheops or Chephren.” In another row of 
tombs Lepsius imagines he has discovered the re¬ 
mains of the Fifth Dynasty, hitherto supposed to have 
reigned at Elephantine contemporaneously with the 
Fourth at Memphis ; but we must certainly hesitate 
to accept his conclusions, when he tells us “these 
are formed into one civilized epoch, dating about the 
year 4000 b. c.” 1 The common fault of these Egypto¬ 
logists is to assume a chronology in their own minds, 
and then attach it to the monuments, as if it were 
inscribed on them in unmistakable characters. 
Lepsius acknowledges that he has “ not found a 
single cartouche that can be safely assigned to a 
period previous to the Fourth Dynasty. The builders 
of the great pyramid seem to assert their right to 
form the commencement of monumental history.” 2 
The date of his “civilized epoch,” therefore, will 
depend on that of the pyramids, which no sober 
chronology places higher than 2400 e.c., while much 
may be said for a later date. 

At Saccara are nine stone pyramids next in size to 
those of Grhizeh, and doubtless covering sepulchral 
vaults. In one of them not previously ransacked, a 
gallery contained as many as thirty mummies of the 
inferior class. For four miles the plain is covered with 
tombs and strewed with relics of the dead and their 
wrappings. Mummies of oxen, sheep, ibises, and dogs, 
are found entombed with the human remains. 

These are all the evidences we possess of the first 
royal city of Egypt. Signally have the prophecies been 
fulfilled which predicted that Noph should be “waste 
and desolate without an inhabitant;” 8 that “ the images 
should cease out of Koph;” 4 that “ Memphis should 

1 Letters, vi. 2 Ibid. y. 3 Jer. xlvi. 19. 4 Ezek. xxx. 13. 


MONUMENTS OE LOWER EGYPT. 


55 


bury ” 1 the apostate Israelites. A green mound is 
all that now marks the site of this ancient city: though 
once “full of idols,” their traces have utterly disap¬ 
peared, and all that remains is a vast charnel-house. 

On the opposite side of Cairo, to the north-east, is 
the site of Heliopolis or On, called by Jeremiah 
Bethshemesh, “ the house of the sun.” 2 Here was 
the great Temple of Ra, the third of the chief gods of 
Lower Egypt. Joseph’s father-in-law was a priest 
or prince of this city. Moses was reputed to have 
here studied the wisdom of the Egyptians. 3 Plato, 
and perhaps Pythagoras, with other of the Greek 
sages, came to learn the mysteries of its famous 
college. An old sycamore in its neighbourhood 
shades a well, which is said to have refreshed Joseph 
and Mary, with the Holy Child, on their first arrival 
in Egypt. In a garden of oranges and lemons still 
stands a solitary obelisk, bearing the name of Osirtasen, 
or, as Bunsen writes it, Sesortasen, of the Twelfth 
Dynasty, being the oldest Theban monument in Lower 
Egypt. The yet larger obelisk erected here by Thothmes 
was conveyed to Rome by the Emperor Constantine 
II., and now stands in front of the church of St. John 
Lateran. The shaft is 105 feet in height, and covered 
with the finest sculptures. 


l Hos. ix. 6. 2 Jer. xliii. 13. 

3 Manetho mentions an Egyptian fable that the leader and law¬ 
giver of the Israelites was a priest of Heliopolis. Without admitting 
the character thus ascribed to Moses, we may well suppose that, 
under the patronage of Pharaoh’s daughter, his youth would be spent 
in the most celebrated place of instruction, and even the secret lore 
of the priesthood would not be withheld from him. 


5G 


CHAPTER III. 

MONUMENTS OE UPPER EGYPT. 

Quarries—Beni Hassan—Eastern Bank—Pictures—Tombs of Nahar-si-Numhept 
and Jmeni Amenemha—Tears of Famine—Jacob's Immigration—Nus—Speos 
Artemidos — Bersheh — Panopolis — Abydos — This—Tablet of Kings—Value of 
such Evidence—Bender ah—Athor— Cleopatra's Portrait—Zodiac-True Bate— 
Thebes — Name—Homer's Hundred Gates—Temple of Amun—Tablet of Karnak 
—Pillared Hall—River Court—Shishak—Scripture Coincidences—Avenue- 
Palace at Luxor—Birth of the God—The Menephtheion—Rameseion—Osinde 
Pillars—Hall of Panegyrics—Library—Colossi of Memnon—Legends—Medinet 
Aboo—Tirhakah—Sesostris—Western Sepulchres—Apes' Burial-place—Tomb 
of Roschere—Brick-making—Sepulchres of the Kings—Human Sacrifices—Tombs 
of the Queens—Latopolis—Zodiac—Temple of Edfou—Phila—Brazen Serpent- 
Labyrinth—City of the Crocodile—Intricate Chambers—Founder's Name. 

Ascending the Nile from Cairo, the quarries of 
Masarah and Toora, which supplied the stone for the 
casing of the pyramids, are passed about nine miles up . 1 
On the western side of the river, above Memphis, was 
Heracleopolis, the seat of a royal dynasty, occupying 
the mouth of the valley leading to the Eaioom. The 
opposite hank contains the grottos of Beni Hassan, 
the burial-place of the Twelfth Dynasty, and, next to 
the pyramids, the oldest royal tombs of Egypt. The 
dead were generally interred on the western hank of 
the Nile, the region of the setting sun, and the 
quarter where Amenti, the world beyond the grave, 
was supposed to lie. In this part of the valley, how¬ 
ever, the eastern hills approaching close to the river 
induced the inhabitants to form catacombs in their 
sides. They are of great extent, entered by portals 
carved in imitation of doors, and hollowed into cham¬ 
bers coloured to resemble stuccoed walls. 

1 Here was the “Trojan hill” of Strabo and Ptolemy, supposed to 
\e so named from the Trojan captives brought by Menelaus on his 
return from the war. 


MQNUMENTS OF TJPPEE, EGYPT. 


S7 


The pictures on these walls, with those more recently 
discovered at Memphis, supply our earliest informa¬ 
tion of Egyptian art and manners. The corpse was 
surrounded by representations of all it had loved to 
look upon in life. The processes of trade and manu¬ 
factures, field-sports, the exercises of war, religious 
ceremonies, domestic employments and amusements, 
are all faithfully depicted. The traveller, beholding 
them by the light of his torch, feels carried back 
into the midst of a departed people. Scribes are 
registering the produce, soldiers attacking a fort, 
men and women fishing, playing the harp, catching 
balls, kneading bread, the surgeon letting blood, the 
barber shaving, glassblowers at work, old and de- 
crepid persons tending cattle. 

One of these mansions of the dead is faced by an 
architrave, supported on fluted pillars, strongly re¬ 
sembling the Doric architecture. The chamber within 
is thirty feet square, painted in colours, which are still 
astonishingly vivid. The inscription shows it to be the 
tomb of a military chief named Nahar, son of Numhept, 
and his wife Rotei. A long list of titles and appoint¬ 
ments held by his family in the Heptanomis is inscribed 
on the wall. He himself was a duke (: repa ), advanced to 
that dignity in succession to his mother, and a privy 
councillor (sab ua, “ wise man”). He succeeded his 
father in the nomarchy or government of the district. 
A speech put into his own mouth describes him as 
“ blessed by the king, praised by his courtiers, more 
intelligent than the wisest of his prefects;—never 
bowed servants so before to their master.” 

Similar titles and self-laudations are found in the ad¬ 
joining tomb of Ameni Amenemha, a captain of in¬ 
fantry, duke, privy councillor, seal-bearer, and governor 


58 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of the goat district. With these dignities were conjoined 
the comptrollership of the royal household, wardrobe, 
and pleasure grounds, together with the somewhat 
anomalous office of “ superintendent of priests.” He 
has also the high title of “ king’s acquaintance ” or 
“cousin”—a compliment to nobility far older, it 
would thus appear, than the feudal system. 1 

Still more interesting is the fact recorded by 
Ameni of “years of famine” happening in his time, 
during which he boasts that he supplied his own 
district with food. Some authorities are of opinion 
that this inscription refers to the famine connected 
with the elevation of Joseph ; and in the tomb of 
Nahar, a large painting, representing a procession of 
foreigners, may even be an actual picture of the arrival 
of Jacob and his family in Egypt. 2 

Lepsius found a series of still earlier tombs a little 
below Beni Hassan, at Zauiet el Meitin, in five of which 
is the cartouche of Apappus or Pepi, whom he takes 
for the centenarian king of Manetho’s Sixth Dynasty. 
These tombs belonged to a city called Nus, on the left 
bank of the Nile. A little above Beni Hassan was the 
temple of Pasht, the Egyptian Diana, excavated in 
the rock by Thothmes III., and called Speos Artemidos 
by the Greek writers. 

A grotto at El Bersheh contains a sculpture, show¬ 
ing the mode in which the ponderous monuments were 
transported to their places. The colossal statue is drawn 
on a sledge by four rows of forty-three men, each har¬ 
nessed with ropes; a superintendent is pouring oil on the 
sledge to make it run easy, and another is clapping his 

1 See a paper by Mr. Birch in the Transactions of the Royal 
Society of Literature, yol. v., new series. 

2 See chapter xii. 


MONUMENTS OP UPPER EGYPT. 


59 


hands to give the time for a strong pull and a pull 
all together. 

After passing between the alabaster quarries on the 
east, and the site of Lycopolis (now Siut) on the west, 
we reach the ancient Panopolis, the city of the god 
Chem, whom the Greeks turned into Pan. Bearing the 
name of the country and its first patriarch (Ham), he 
was probably one of the oldest of the Egyptian deities. 

The next place of importance is Abydos, the repre¬ 
sentative of This, the most ancient city of Upper 
Egypt, and in all probability the seat of its earliest 
monarchy. This was pre-eminently the city of Osiris. 
Being accounted in a peculiar manner his burying 
place, it was the favourite cemetery of his wor¬ 
shippers, and the adjacent hills are filled with their 
tombs. Here we first encounter the great temple 
buildings. The ruins are extensive and of high 
antiquity, though nothing is really identified of an 
earlier date than Bameses the Great and his father 
Setei or Osirei. It was here that Mr. Bankes dis¬ 
covered, in 1818, the famous “ Tablet of Abydos,” now 
one of the treasures of the British Museum, and of the 
utmost importance in determining the royal succession 
and chronology of Ancient Egypt. Eameses is depicted 
sitting on his throne, and contemplating the shields 
or hieroglyphic names of his predecessors. These are 
arranged in two rows of twenty-six each, while a 
third line consists of his own name continually re¬ 
peated. The stone is unfortunately much mutilated, 
and has failed to satisfy the hopes, entertained at its 
discovery, of fixing beyond doubt the fifty-two kings 
who preceded Bameses. When compared with a 
similar tablet of earlier date found at Karnak, the 
two authorities, whilst they agree in some names, yet 


60 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


differ so hopelessly in others as to raise the suspicion 
that one or both may he genealogical rather than his¬ 
torical ; representing, that is, the king’s family ances¬ 
tors, not his predecessors on the throne. 

In either case monuments of this sort only show 
the belief of the day in which they were erected. If 
Queen Elizabeth had placed such a tablet on the 
walls of Westminster Abbey, it would undoubtedly 
have begun with Brutus, the Trojan King, as having 
founded the British monarchy, and given his name to 
our island. The succession would have been traced 
through his three sons to Ebraucus of York, with 
his twenty sons and thirty daughters, Leil of Carlisle, 
Bladud of Bath, Lear and his three daughters, Belinus 
and Brennus, who captured Eome, Gordonius and 
Elidure, and so on to Lud, the founder of London, 
and his brother Cassibelaunus, the conqueror of 
Julius Caesar. All these were as firmly believed in, 
three centuries ago, as William the Conqueror or the 
wars of the Bed and White Boses. Shakespeare, 
Spenser, and Milton accepted these legends for 
English history; and Bameses the Great was probably 
no better instructed in that of Egypt, when he begun 
his pedigree with Menes the first King of Egypt after 
the gods, and made himself the fifty-third successor 
of that renowned founder. 1 

Denderah, or Tentyris, higher up the Nile on the 
western bank, contains a temple which secures con¬ 
siderable attention, both from its fine preservation 
and from its being the first of the kind to meet the 
eye of the European voyager. It was dedicated to 

1 Since writing this paragraph the author has found a similar re¬ 
mark in the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis’s “ Historical Survey of 
the Astronomy of the Ancients,” p. 359, where other instances of the 
same kind are referred to. 


MONUMENTS OE TTPPEE EGYPT. G1 

Athor, the Egyptian Yenus, whose face, repeated on 
the capitals of the pillars, has been said to look down 
on her votaries with a peculiar sweetness and majesty. 
It is certainly a handsomer countenance than that 
of any other Egyptian idol, but is still far from 
any similarity to the exquisite loveliness of the 
Greek Aphrodite. The goddess is depicted with the 
horns and ears of a cow, her significant emblem, and 
is perhaps but another form of Isis. 

This temple is not properly a monument of Ancient 
Egypt, being erected in the time of the Ptolemies, It 
is chiefly remarkable from containing a supposed con¬ 
temporary portrait of Cleopatra (whose features will 
disappoint the expectations of an European as much as 
those of the goddess), and for a zodiac painted on the 
ceiling of the portico, once supposed to be of a very 
remote antiquity. The Erench astronomers assigned 
to it a date three or four thousand years before the 
Christian era, and great was the triumph of unbe¬ 
lievers at so authentic a disproof of the Mosaic nar¬ 
rative. The zodiac, however, has been taken down and 
transported to Paris, where the discovery of the true 
method of reading hieroglyphics has converted it into a 
signal humiliation and discomfiture to the sceptical 
school. It is ascertained to have been constructed 
in the reign of Nero, a little after the Christian era. 1 

Passing Coptos and Apollinopolis Parva, the ex¬ 
plorer arrives at last at Thebes , a city probably some 
centuries younger than Memphis and This; yet more 
than either the centre of poetical and chronological 
interest. The second capital of Upper Egypt, it 
became by the arms of its princes the seat of a 

1 Letronne, Sur TOrigine Grecque des Zodiaques pretendus Egyp- 
tiens. Paris, 1837. 


62 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


monarchy extending from the island of Meroe to the 
peninsula of Sinai, and, if we are to believe the 
Egyptologists, exacting tribute up to the confines of 
India. This renowned city occupied the only plain of 
any extent in the valley of Upper Egypt. Its site is 
represented by the four villages of Karnak and Luxor 
on the eastern bank, and on the western Qoorneh and 
Medinet Abou, properly Medina Taboo , “the city 
of Thebes.” They enclose an area, formed by a 
backward sweep of the hills, of five miles long and 
three broad. The Nile enters this area, in a more 
majestic stream than at any other point of its course, 
but is soon after interrupted by a group of islands, 
which (although bridges are not known to have existed) 
must have greatly facilitated the transit from side to 
side. The plain is widest on the eastern bank, and 
here stood the city of Amun, the Diospolis of the 
G-reeks, and the No Amon of Holy Scripture. 1 It 
extended from the temple of Karnak on the south, to 
that of Luxor on the north. The western bank con¬ 
tained the Necropolis ; and though also enriched with 
palaces and temples, the population was chiefly devoted 
to the care of the dead. It is not known that any 
buildings existed on the islands. 

The name Thebes is derived from Tape, 11 the capital,” 2 3 
and was erroneously confounded by the Greeks with 
that of their own Boeotian city. Homer describes the 
Egyptian Thebes as— 

“ Pouring her heroes through a hundred gates— 

Two hundred horsemen and two hundred cars 
From each wide portal issuing to the wars.'*’3 

1 Jer. xlvi. 25; Nahum iii. 8 (margin). 

2 Lepsius gives another etymology from Ap, or, with the article 
prefixed, Tap, a small temple of Amun. 

3 Pope’s Iliad, ix., 503. 


MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT. 


G3 


No traces, however, exist either of the hundred gates 
or the city walls. Some writers would, therefore, 
understand the poet to refer to the numerous temple 
and palace gates, which formed a conspicuous feature 
in the architecture of the city; but the truth is, 
Homer knew nothing of Egypt, and the passage 
only indicates the force of his imagination, dilating 
on the distant, undiscovered, East. 

The temple of Amun stood at Karnak, a little way 
back from the Nile, and was perhaps founded by 
Sesortasen, 1 the head of the Twelfth Dynasty, whose 
shield has been found on some columns in the oldest 
part. It was enlarged and beautified by the kings of 
the Eighteenth Dynasty, who, according to the tablet 
of Abydos, were the immediate successors of the 
Twelfth. Succeeding rulers made additions, more or 
less important; and every conqueror loved to have his 
victories recorded on its walls, as the Capitol of the 
Theban race. 

The sanctuary itself was a comparatively small 
granite apartment, surrounded by a number of lesser 
cells, recalling the time when the first temples were 
caves or grottoes hollowed in the rock. It was 
approached through courts adorned by gates and 
colonnades, and covering, with the other buildings, 
a space of about 1800 square feet, enclosed by a brick 
wall. The enclosure was entered through a gate- 
tower in the southern face, which led into a court 
where are two obelisks of Thothmes ; 2 one erect and 
perfect, the other lying in pieces on the ground. In a 
second court beyond were two more obelisks, of which 
that which remains is ninety-two feet high, being the 
loftiest hut one in existence. To the right of this 
1 Otherwise Osirtasen , see ch. xii. 2 See ch. xiii. 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


64 

court stood the sanctuary, with its attendant chambers, 
in one of which was found the famous “ tablet of 
Karnak.” It represents Thothmes III. 1 offering gifts 
to his ancestors or predecessors. A series of sixty-one 
monarchs is disposed in four lines round the walls, 
the names of each being inscribed in hieroglyphics. 
This monument ought to be of the utmost importance 
in determining the royal successions and chronology of 
Egypt; but a considerable number of the names are 
unknown, and it is found impossible to reconcile it 
with the later tablet of Abydos, and other similar 
memorials. 

Opposite the sanctuary on the other side of the 
second court, a gateway, bearing the name of Rameses 
the Great, 2 opens into a hall erected by that king’s 
father, Sethos, and described as, next to the Pyra¬ 
mids, the most impressive and wonderful of all the 
remains of ancient Egypt. Its dimensions (329 by 
170) would enable the cathedral of Notre Dame at 
Paris to stand in it without touching the walls ; 3 
from the floor to the ceiling was 80 feet, the stone 
roof being supported by 134 massive columns in 
sixteen rows. The pillars of the two central rows, 
twelve in number, are 11 feet in diameter, and 66 feet 
high; it would take six men with extended arms to 
embrace their circumference. The seven rows on 
either side contain 122 columns, 41 feet 9 inches 
high, and 9 feet in diameter. The width between the 
central columns is 17 feet; light and air were ad¬ 
mitted by openings above the side rows, like clerestory- 
windows. “No people (writes Champollion) ever 
carried the art of architecture to so sublime a standard. 

1 See chapter xiii. 2 See chapter xiii. 

3 The larger English cathedrals are all longer. 


MONUMENTS OE UPPER EGYPT. 65 

The imagination which overleaps our puny porticoes, 
falls exhausted and powerless before the 140 columns 
of the pillared hall at Karnak.” The columns, how¬ 
ever, must have been too crowded for any grand 
effect; and, though brilliant with colour and sculpture, 
are decidedly barbaresyue in point of taste. Of the 
columns a great number are still standing, but the 
water of the inundation is gradually loosening the soil, 
and undermining their bases. The walls are adorned 
with has reliefs expressive of the exploits of the 
founder, Setei Menephthah and his son Eameses the 
Great. These enormous halls are supposed to have 
been intended for the celebration of the religious 
assemblies called panegyries , which were periodically 
held in Egypt. 

On the river side of the hall a gateway more than 
40 feet high opens into a lobby which conducts to a 
court 275 feet by 329, having a covered cloister on 
either side, and a double row of columns down the 
centre. 1 Eameses also added a private sanctuary at 
the end of the court, the door of which was on the 
, other side, and approached by an avenue of ram-headed 
sphinxes, flanked by two granite statues of himself. 

Among the sculptures of this temple are seen the 
names of the nations conquered by Amunmai Sheshonk, 
i. e.j the Shishak who captured Jerusalem in the fifth 
year of Eehoboam (b. c. 971). This monument very 
remarkably confirms the narrative of Holy Scripture. 
The king, represented, as usual, of gigantic size, has a 
number of captives before him, whom he is about to 
put to death; the prisoners are presented to him 
bound by the god Amun-re, and shields are attached to 
the cords, bearing the names or emblems of the 
1 Wilkinson, Modem Egypt ii., 247. 

E 


G(5 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


vanquished. On the first is the lotus , the symbol of 
the south; the second bears the papyrus, the symbol 

of the north ; and we 
learn from the book 
of Chronicles that 
both Lybia and Ethi¬ 
opia were in subjec¬ 
tion to Shishak when 
he invaded Judea. 1 
The third shield bears 
the character Penne , 
denoting the western 
bank of the Nile, with 
the “ nine bows,” 
which are the symbol 
of Libya. Several 
names have been de¬ 
ciphered correspond¬ 
ing with more or less 
certainty to those of 
the Bible ; 2 one,which 
is beyond all doubt, is 
Joudhmallc, i. e., Jou- 
dah Melefc, “ king of 
Judah.” The designa¬ 
tion “ land,” which is 
added, denotes that 
places, not persons, 
are meant; this is, therefore, a contemporaneous 
monument of the conquest of J udea; and it is worthy 
of all notice that the first certain voice which meets us 



1 2 Chron. xii. 3; Jer. xlvi. 8,9. 

2 Mahanima=Mahanaim, Gen. xxxii. 2. Baithorn=Beth-horon, 
; Kings ix. 17 ; 2 Chron. viii. o. Makto=Megiddo, 1 King ix. 15. 






















MONUMENTS OF TTPPEE EGYPT. 


07 


in tlie ruins of Thebes, is an echo of the Divine Becord 
which shall never pass away. 

Magnificent as the interior of this temple may have 
appeared, it was approached by an avenue still more 
extraordinary and majestic. In front of the principal 
gate-tower, or pylon , stretched a broad dromos (or 
avenue), lined by double rows of ram-headed sphinxes 
draped in thick folds from the back of the head to the 
breast. There were sixty or seventy of these creatures 
at distances of eleven feet apart. From the end ot 
this avenue a similar dromos, lined with rams couched 
on pedestals, led off to a temple enclosing a lake for 
the performance of funeral solemnities; while a third 
avenue of sphinxes conducted from the same point to 
the portico of the palace at Luxor, a distance of 6000 
feet from the temple at Karnak. 

In this palace the traces of numerous apartments are- 
discerned. They comprise a sanctuary with the birth- 
chamber of the god, which in compliment to the reign¬ 
ing Pharaoh is represented as his own. The infant js 
Amunoph III., by whom the palace was erected, and 
the goddess-mother is Mautmes, the queen of Thoth- 
mes IV. 1 The palace was connected by a colonnade 
with a court surrounded by cloisters supported on 
double columns, from which a gateway, fifty-one feet 
in height and flanked by pyramidal wings, opened 
towards the river. In front of this gate are two sitting 
statues of Bameses the Great, once forty feet high, but 
now buried up to the breasts by the accumulations of 
centuries. Before them rose a pair of obelisks sixty 
or seventy feet in height, one of which now stands 
in the Place de la Concorde at Paris: from these a 
jetty of brick and stone led to the waterside. The 
1 See ch. xiii. 


cs 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Luxor ruins are called tlie Amenophion , m reference 
to the king by whom they were principally erected. 

Opposite to them, on the western hank of the Nile, 
are those called the Menephtheion , an edifice of the 
oldest style, comprising a temple and a palace, and 
approached by an avenue of columns 128 feet long. 
A still more remarkable edifice was the Rameseion 
planted on the rise of the hill, and having flights of steps 
from one court to another. Two pyramidal entrance- 
towers admitted to an open court surrounded by a 
double colonnade. On the left of th§ steps, leading up to 
the second court, is still seen the pedestal of the enor¬ 
mous statue of Bameses, which Diodorus describes as 
the largest in Egypt. 1 The court is filled with its frag¬ 
ments, among'which are part of the foot, proving this 
member alone to have been eleven feet long. The 
breadth across the shoulders was twenty-two feet four 
inches; the total height fifty-four feet. The weight 
is calculated at 887^ tons. This enormous mass of 
granite was extracted in one piece from the quarries 
at Syene, and polished to a perfect smoothness. 

The second court is surrounded by the Osiride 
pillars 2 mentioned by Diodorus; and this circumstance, 
with some sculptures of Bameses the Great on the 
walls, identify these remains with the monuments of 
Osymandyas. 3 In this court was the head of red 
granite known as the young Memnon , now in the 
British Museum, whither it was removed by the 
ingenuity of Belzoni. It belonged to a statue which 
was more than twenty-two feet high—one of the most 

1 Diod. i. 47. 

2 These are colossal figures of Osiris, or of sovereigns with the 
attributes of Osiris, resembling the Greek Caryatides, save that no 
weight is imposed upon them. 

$ Diod. Sic. i. 48. 


MONUMENTS OE UPPEE EGYPT. G9 

perfect specimens of Egyptian art. Beyond the court 
are the remains of a hall dedicated to the panegyries , 
133 feet broad by 100 long. The roof was supported 
by forty-eight columns, twelve of which are thirty-two 
and a half feet high, and twenty-one and a quarter in 
circumference. This saloon is sculptured with repre¬ 
sentations of Bameses worshipping the deities, in 
company with his twenty-three sons and six princesses, 
elegantly clothed, with a sistrum in their hands. Nine 
smaller apartments lay behind, one of which, supposed 
to be the Sacred Library, 1 is distinguished by sculp¬ 
tures of Thoth, the inventor of letters, accompanied by 
the goddess Saf, with the title “ Lady of Letters,” and 
“ President of the Hall of Books.” In this room was 
an astronomical ceiling, representing the twelve Egyp¬ 
tian months: the inscription had been carried off by 
the Persians before Diodorus visited Egypt. 

A little higher up the Nile are the ruins of the 
palace of Amunoph III., the 
Memnon of the Greeks. It was 
dedicated to Sokaris Osiris, 
whose name appears on the 
fragments in company with 
Amun-re. Between the palace 
and the river are the two 
famous Colossal statues which 
probably formed the entrance 
to an avenue of similar figures 
leading up to the buildings. 

Though in a sitting posture 
they are sixty feet high, and 
each of a single block of stone. In general character 
they resemble the smaller statues in the British 
1 Diod. i. 49. 












70 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Museum. The bodies are without motion, the faces 
without expression, the eyes looking straightforward. 
Yet a certain grand simplicity occasions them to be 
universally admired. The northern figure is that which 
the Greeks called Memnon the son of Aurora. It was 
believed to emit a melodious sound every morning as a 
salutation to his rosy-fingered mother. It was broken 
before the Roman period, as some say by Cambyses 
who conquered Egypt n.c. 526, but according to 
others by an earthquake. Juvenal refers to this 
mutilation in the lines— 

“ Effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci, 

Dimidio magic® resonant ubi Memnone chordae 
Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis.” 1 

The fractures have since been repaired with pieces of 
sandstone. 

The Egyptians believed that before the injury the 
seven mysterious vowels were heard from this colossus. 
Another account made it breathe out a mournful note 
at sunset as a farewell to the day. Pausanias describes 
the sound as resembling the snapping of a musical 
chord; Strabo as like the noise of a blow. Some of 
the classical authors thought the notes were emitted 
from a lyre held by the statue; but Sir Gardner Wil¬ 
kinson discovered a stone in the lap of the figure 
which, on being struck, yielded a sound as of brass. 

Various explanations have been offered on the re¬ 
currence of the notes at sunrise, some ascribing it to 
the change of temperature, and some to an artifice of 
the priests. The fact itself, however, has never yet 
been sufficiently established. Strabo heard a sound, but 

l “The sacred baboon’s golden image shines where the magic 
chords resound from the cracked Memnon, and ancient Thebes lies 
buried with her hundred gates.”—Sat. xv. 4. 


MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT. 


71 


could not be sure that it proceeded from tbe statue. 
Pliny and Tacitus mention it, but never beard it them¬ 
selves ; and tbe figure has long been incontestably dumb. 

A high mound in the village of Medinet Aboo 
represents tbe largest of tbe temples on tbe western 
bank. It is ascribed to Tbotbmes I., but is chiefly 
remarkable for containing tbe name of a much later 
Pharaoh, Tirbakab, one of tbe Ethiopian rulers of 
Egypt, who is mentioned by the prophet Isaiah. 1 
Adjoining this palace was a pavilion, differing in 
character from every other Egyptian antiquity. It 
was of two stories, and had larger and more numerous 
windows than are usual. An avenue of 265 feet in 
length runs from this building to a palace built by 
Baineses the Great, of which only the two courts and 
their entrance towers are discernible. All are sculp r 
tured over with the exploits of this famous monarch ; 
in one place he is represented with a lion running by 
his side, an incident agreeing with what is stated of 
Sesostris by the Greek writers. 

All along from Qoorneh to Medinet Aboo the 
banks are full of sepulchres. The face of the hill 
is pierced with rectangular openings, leading into the 
heart of the rocks, and ending in chambers one beyond 
another. The walls are mostly stuccoed, and painted 
with scenes of everyday life, acts of worship, fune¬ 
ral ceremonies, and historical events. They are 
ornamented in arabesques of various patterns, the 
hieroglyphics being so minute and abundant that 
a space of forty or fifty feet contains nearly 1200 
characters. 

The mummies are piled on each other or laid in 
rows, never upright. The sepulchres of priests and 
1 Isa. xxxvii. 9. 


72 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


persons of rank are excavated in the higher and more 
solid parts of the rock, but no separation of castes has 
been traced. Mummies of sacred animals are found 
in many of the graves, and one part has received the 
name of “The Apes’ Burial Place,” from the number 
of embalmed baboons it contains. One of the most 
interesting tombs is that of Boschere , described as 
“Superintendent of the Great Buildings” to king 
Thothmes III. On its walls is represented the pro¬ 
cess of brick-making; some are working up the clay, 
others carrying it on their shoulders, or moulding it 
into bricks, or placing them to dry in the sun. The 
colour and physiognomy of the workmen denote them 
to he foreigners, and the aquiline nose and yellow com¬ 
plexion are unmistakable signs of the children of 
Israel. Thothmes belonged to the Eighteenth Dynasty. 
He erected several large buildings in brick. As the 
Egyptians never burned their bricks, but only baked 
them in the sun, they required straw to be mixed with 
the clay to make them more consistent. 1 

The royal sepulchres are in a lonely glen called by 
the Arabs Bab-el-MelooJc, i.e. x “ Gate of the Kings.” 
Twenty-one have been numbered by Sir Gardner 
Wilkinson, all monarchs of the Eighteenth, Nine¬ 
teenth, and Twentieth Dynasties. Only those of 
Amunoph III. and Raineses the Great, the kings of 
longest reigns, are complete in all their parts. The 
most splendid is the tomb of Setei-Menephthah, 320 
feet in length. Near it was a saloon, in the centre 
of which stood the fine alabaster sarcophagus, 
now in the museum of Sir John Soane. The mummy 
was gone when Belzoni found it, and the lid of the 
sarcophagus was broken to pieces. An apartment 
1 Exod. v. 10—19. 























































74 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

beneath, contained an astronomical ceiling; the sky 
was painted of a brilliant azure, and the stars whita 
All the walls are covered with figures and hieroglyphics. 
The tomb of Rameses IV., called that of Memnon, re¬ 
presents the soul of the deceased under the image of 
the sun passing successively through the twenty-four 
hours. The same idea is astronomically exhibited on the 
ceiling. 1 The hall preceding that of the sarcophagus 
is dedicated to the four genii of Hades. The 
king appears in it before the forty-two judges or 
assessors of Osiris, and as many columns of hiero¬ 
glyphics express the laudatory sentence passed by 
each on the deceased. Another tomb is called the 
Harpers, from a picture of two persons playing on 
that instrument. 

Processions of prisoners or victims are represented 
in'these tombs, some of whom are apparently Jews, 
and others negroes. Unmistakable evidence of the 
practice of human sacrifice was here discovered by 
Colonel Howard Vyse. Headless figures are lying on 
the ground with the sacrificial knife hard by; others 
are kneeling with the arms bound to a stake, sur¬ 
mounted by the head of a jackal (the emblem of death). 
In one place a row of figures are held down each by a 
priestess , the blood spouting in a torrent from an 
incision in the crown of the head into a basin or cup 
placed in front. 2 

A separate place of interment was allotted to the 
queens about 3000 feet from the temple at Medinet 
Aboo. They all hear the title of wife of Amun, and 
are supposed to be the consorts of the kings buried in 
the Bab-el-Melook. Twenty-four have been counted, 
twelve of whom are known to be queens; but the 
1 Champollion, 229. 2 Vyse’s Pyramids, i. 88. 


MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT. 75 

sculptures are very much destroyed, save on that of 
Taia, queen of Amunoph III. 

Above Thebes lie the ruins of the ancient Hermon- 
this; and further on, at Esneh, those of Latopolis, 
where the worship of Neith was combined with that 
of the fish Lato. The temple is of a comparatively 
late date, having been rebuilt in the reign of the 
Emperor Tiberius. It contains a famous zodiac, like 
that of Denderah, to which Erench astronomers insisted 
on assigning an antiquity of at least 17000 years b.c. 
M. Champollion, however, read the name of the Em¬ 
peror Antoninus upon it, and so proved it to have 
been erected about a.d. 140. 

Thirty miles higher up stands the large and well- 
preserved ruin of the Temple of Edfou, 1 affording a 
good specimen of the general plan of the Egyptian 
sanctuaries. The last of the great edifices was at 
Apollinopolis, or the city of the Elder Horus; this 
temple was 500 feet long, and above 200 broad. 

The banks of the Nile here begin to contract and 
overhang the water; the soil also is rocky and sterile. 
The grottos near Silsilis are adorned with paintings, 
and the sandstone quarries exhibit traces of the slabs 
cut out for the monuments. The ruins of two temples 
and the city of Ombos intervene before reaching Syene, 
and the temples of Elephantine and Philse close the 
monumental series of Egypt. The latter is a specimen of 
the earliest style of architecture, consisting of a simple 
oblong building without pillars. It contains a chamber 
in which the birth of the child-god Horus is depicted; 
and among the sculptures is a bird surrounded by the 
petals of the lotus, by the side of which are two priests 
worshipping a serpent suspended on a cross, in a 
l See engraving on next page. 


»vhi 


76 


ANCIENT EGYPT 



TEMPLE OF EDFOU 














































































































































































































































































































































MONUMENTS OF UPPER EGYPT. 


77 


manner which recalls the common pictures of the 
brazen serpent. 

Similar monuments occur in Ethiopia as far as 
Meroe, but they are not comprehended in the present 
enumeration. Neither shall we extend our survey to 
the Oases formerly connected with Egypt. It would 
be unpardonable, however, to omit one monument 
which, next to the Pyramids, seems to have exercised 
the ingenuity of observers and explorers of every age. 
This is the Labyrinth, situated on the celebrated lake 
Mceris, in the province of Eaioom. Herodotus was told 
that this lake, then containing one hundred and fifty 
square miles, and navigated by vessels of the largest 
tonnage, was excavated by a Pharaoh Mceris; and in 
answer to his inquiry, what became of the earth, the 
priests gravely informed him it was carried away by 
the Nile to the sea! 

The Labyrinth was situated on this great sheet of 
water near the city called Crocodilopolis. Diodorus 
attributes both to a king Mendes, who, being driven 
by his dogs into the lake, was saved by a crocodile 
bearing him to the other side on its back. In honour of 
this escape he founded the city with a special rite for 
his preserver, and built the Labyrinth for his own 
tomb. 1 This king is now identified with Ammenemha, 
the successor of the great Sesortasen, and, according 
to Bunsen, the Lamaris or Lachares of Manetho. 

The Labyrinth is described by Herodotus from per¬ 
sonal observation 2 as a “ superhuman work” consisting 
of three thousand chambers, united by a maze of intri¬ 
cate passages, and adorned with countless pillars and 
porticoes. He esteemed it superior, as a work of art, 
not only to the temples of Ephesus and Samos, and 
1 Diod. i. 61. 2 Herod, ii. 148. 



78 


ANCIEKT EGYPT. 


all the buildings of Greece, but to the Pyramids 
themselves. He adds, that the coffins of the kings 
who built it, and of their sacred crocodiles, were in 
the chambers under-ground; but he was not permitted 
to see them. Strabo says the enclosure contained as 
many palaces as there formerly were nomes (supposed 
to be twenty-seven 1 ), and that the priests and 
priestesses of each department were accustomed to 
assemble there in solemn conclave to offer sacrifices, 
and resolve difficult questions of law. 2 The way to the 
courts within was through a series of small chambers 
having doors opening into each other, many of which 
were purposely contrived to baffle the stranger, and 
lead him back again to the outside. It contained 
shrines for all the gods of Egypt, columns of por¬ 
phyry, idols, statues, and monsters without number. 3 

These buildings and their contents w'ere doubtless 
the growth of a long series of years. A pyramid 
marked the tomb of the original founder; but both 
Herodotus and Diodorus assign the buildings to the 
age of Psamaticus and the twelve princes who suc¬ 
ceeded the Theban Pharaohs. The pyramid has been 
examined by Perring and Lepsius. It is built of sun¬ 
burnt brick, mixed with much straw and laid in fine 
gravel, and was originally cased with stone. The dis¬ 
covery of the name of the founder, Ra-n-Ma , or, ac¬ 
cording to the usual custom of reading the deity last, 
Ma-ra , is thought important. It is considered to be 
the prenomen of Ammenemha, the last of the Twelfth 
Dynasty, and possibly one of the Pharaohs who showed 
kindness to the children of Israel. 

1 Upper Egypt, 10; Lower Egypt, 10; Heptanomis 7=27; but 
perhaps only the original seven are intended. •— 

2 Bunsen, ii. 314. 

3 Pliny ap Bunsen, ibid. 


79 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 

Sculptures — Sepulchres — Portraits — Inscriptions — Hieroglyphics — Pictorial 
— Symbolical—Rosetta Stone—Bilingual Inscription — Contents — Dr. Young — 
Champollion—Phonetic Hieroglyphics — Examples—Syllabic value — Alphabet — 
Lepsius — Bunsen—Three Classes — Salvolini — Dispute — Homophones—Letter H 
—Conventional Rules — Determinatives — Language—Sir G. C. Lewis—Agreement 
with Bible — Specimens—Paris Obelisk—Rural Ditty—Epitaph of Queen Onknaa 
-—Vertical Columns — Horizontal — Varieties — Papyri—Hieratic Character — En¬ 
chorial — Manufacture — Illuminations—Book of the Dead — Saltier’s Papyrus — 
Royal—No History. 

With the single exception of the Pyramids, the 
monuments described in the preceding chapters are 
embellished with paintings, intaglios, and reliefs, re¬ 
presenting the public and private life of the ancient 
Egyptians. Ho nation ever took such pains to live in 
the knowledge of posterity. They resisted at every 
point the progress of time and decay. Instead of 
leaving their dead to return to the earth out of which 
they were taken, they embalmed their corpses with an 
art which, defying corruption, shows us in the present 
day not merely the shape and likeness, hut the identical 
forms which lived and acted on the hanks of the Nile 
upwards of 3000 years ago. 

The receptacles in which the remains of the dead were 
stored up differ not less widely from the sepulchres of 
other nations. In place of the charnel-house, where 
the mouldering corpse is consigned to solitude and for¬ 
getfulness, the Egyptian mummy reposed in an apart¬ 
ment brilliantly painted with all the scenes of its past 
existence. The plough and the loom are seen in active 
operation on the walls. The fisherman, the potter, 
and the farmer pursue their daily toils. We read the 


80 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


manners, laws, and religion of Ancient Egypt, not in 
history or in song, but in portraits taken from the 
life, and presenting its exact transcript in the grava 

These pictures are profusely illustrated by inscrip- 
tions, painted or carved in the solid stone, and often so 
numerous as to cover the entire monument, and even 
the whole interior of the temple. The characters in 
which they are written are termed hieroglyphics , and 
were clearly derived from the art of the painter. They 
represent men and animals, astronomical and geogra¬ 
phical figures, plants, artificial instruments, and uten¬ 
sils of various descriptions. The objects are mostly 
real; a few only being imaginary forms, compounded 
of real elements, such as winged snakes and globes, 
griffins, phoenixes, sphinxes, with other fanciful com¬ 
binations of human and animal organs. 

The primary intention of .the hieroglyphic was 
doubtless to express the object represented ; in many 
instances it never acquired any other meaning, but 
was to all intents and purposes a picture. In other 
cases, however, it was used to denote not the actual 
object represented, but some other object, physical or 
ideal, conventionally connected with it. The character 
then changed from a picture to a symbol. Thus an 
eye was put for seeing, a throne for royalty, a sceptre 
for a king, a jackal for cunning, the lotus plant for 
Upper Egypt, the papyrus for Lower Egypt, an ibis, 
an ox, or a crocodile for the deities to which those 
animals were considered sacred. This symbolical use 
was extended not only to physical and mental acts, 
but to abstract ideas: a verb transitive was denoted 
by a pair of legs walking , the negative conjunction by 
two arms in an attitude of repulsion, and the human 
soul by head and face with wings It is obvious that 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


81 


symbols of this kind may be multiplied indefinitely, and 
must always be uncertain in their meaning till the 
conventional use has been ascertained by comparison or 
from extraneous sources. Many, therefore, are still 
wholly unknown, and of others the significations 
usually accepted are very precarious. To one or other 
of these two classes all hieroglyphics were till lately 
referred, 1 and from the uncertainty attending a nume¬ 
rous and obsolete assemblage of symbols, the inscrip¬ 
tions remained an impenetrable enigma. 

It was only in August, 1799, that a key was at last 
supplied, by the discovery of the important monument 
known as the “Rosetta Stone,” now in the British 
Museum. This is an oblong slab of black basalt, dug 
up by a Trench officer named Bouchart, and destined 
by him to augment the treasures of science in the 
Louvre. The victory of Lord Hutchinson and the 
consequent capitulation of Alexandria transferred it 
to the British, and it was landed at Portsmouth in 
February, 1802. “ This seemingly insignificant stone 
shares, with the great and splendid work, c La Descrip¬ 
tion de l’Egypte,’ the honour of being the only result 
of vital importance to universal history accruing from 
a vast expedition, a brilliant conquest, and a bloody 
combat for the possession of Egypt.” 2 The value 
of the stone is that it contains what had previously 
been sought for in vain—a hieroglyphic inscription 
accompanied by a version in Greek. It is engraved 
in three lines, the uppermost in hieroglyphics, the 
lowest in Greek, and between them another, then 

1 All ancient explanations, such as those of Chaeremon, Horapollo, 
and Ainniianus Marcellinus, confine the hieroglyphics to these two 
uses.—See Sir G. C. Lewis , pp. 380, 381. 

2 Bunsen, i. 310. 

G 


82 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


entirely unknown, which the Greek text describes as 
the enchorial or popular Egyptian. The Greek text, 
when restored and interpreted, was found to contain a 
decree by the high priests, prophets, and other sacred 
functionaries assembled at Memphis for the coronation 
of Ptolemy Epiphanes, n.c. 196. 

A fac-simile of this inscription having been pub¬ 
lished, antiquarians applied themselves to decipher the 
hieroglyphics by means of the corresponding Greek 
words. 1 Dr. Young was the first to publish a “ conjec¬ 
tural translation ” in 1816, which he followed up by an 
article in the supplement of the “ Encyclopaedia Britan- 
nica ” three years later. He was followed by the French 
author Champollion, who, repairing to Egypt under 
the orders of his government, translated many inscrip¬ 
tions, and finally prepared a grammar and dictionary, 
which, in consequence of his death in 1832, appeared 
under the editorship of his brother, M. Champollion 
Figeac, and laid the foundation of the system since 
pursued and improved upon by modern Egyptologists. 

The peculiarity of this system is the discovery of a 
third class of hieroglyphics termed phonetic; designed, 
that is, to express, not the object itself, nor any idea 
of which it was the symbol, but the sound of its name 
in the Egyptian language. A duck, for example, being 
called chin , and the same word expressing a physician, 
the figure of this bird denoted a physician (possibly a 
quack) ; as if, in English, the figure of a box were put 
for a cuff on the ear, or a garden shrub. 

The Egyptian, like other ancient languages, was 
mostly composed of monosyllables; hence such cha¬ 
racters acquired a syllabic value, and could be put 

1 A full translation, made by the Philomathean Society of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, will be found in our appendix. 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


83 


together to denote longer words, as syllables are in 
English. Osiris, for example, was expressed by a 
throne (os), and an eye (iri) . Erom syllables it was an 
easy transition to letters, by dropping the short vowel 
combined with the consonant, and leaving the sign to 
represent the latter alone. The result is that a con¬ 
siderable proportion of the hieroglyphics were dis¬ 
covered to he in effect alphabetical characters, combin¬ 
ing, like modern letters, to form words. Thus an eagle 
being called achem, the figure of that bird stands for 
A, its initial sound; a water-jug, symbolical of water 
(new), is put for N, and an owl (mulag) for M; these 
three signs grouped together spell anew (a pearl), the 
short vowels being supplied in pronunciation, as in 
most Eastern languages, and only the long ones ex¬ 
pressed by a character. 1 

Champollion’s system contained above 200 sounds, 
which, in 1834, were reduced by Richard Lepsius to 
fifteen, answering to our letters, a, b,f h, i, k, l, or r, 
m, n, p, s, t y u, ch, and sch. The Egyptians are 
supposed to have expressed d by t, g by ch, t, or k, 
and o by u. The alphabet as thus settled is given 
with the latest improvements, accompanied by a 
grammar and vocabulary of the language in Baron 
Bunsen’s work. 

The result may be briefly stated as follows. The 
hieroglyphic signs are employed, not as before sup* 
posed in two, but in three, classes of signification •:— 

1. Pictorially, as denoting simply the object repre¬ 
sented ; 

1 The principle is precisely that of a child’s alphabet: “ A was an 
archer who shot a frog, B was a butcher who had a big dog; C w r as a 
captain all covered with lace.” We have only to suppose the drawing 
of a captain, an archer, and a butcher to denote the word cab, and the 
resemblance is exact. 


84 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


2. Symbolically , for some other object or idea, con¬ 
ventionally connected with the figure; 

3. Phonetically , as the syllabic or initial sound of 
the name of the object represented ; or of that which 
it symbolizes. 

The extension of the phonetic principle implied in 
the last words has been questioned. It is distinctly 
asserted by Salvolini, the pupil of Champollion, who 
states that the vulture {nurheu) not only represents 
its own initial letter n , hut also m, because a vulture is 
symbolical of maternity; whence the word for mother 
is mu or muth. This statement is disputed by Bunsen; 
yet in his “ Complete List of Hieroglyphical Signs,” 
the vulture actually stands for both those letters, 
besides three other meanings. It is given, 1, for the 
bird itself; 2, for the goddess Muth; 3, for the idea of 
mother ; 4, for the letter n; and 5, for the letter m. 

In like manner the vulpanser, or goose of the Nile, 
is read in no less than twelve meanings :—1, pictorially , 
to denote the bird itself; 2, symbolically, in eight 
ways, i. of the god Seb or Saturn, ii. of the relation of 
a son , iii., iv., v., vi., vii., and viii. as determinative of 
waterfowl, of birds generally, of flying animals, of a 
scarabseus, of the verbs to heal and to sleep; 3, 
phonetically for a, s, and (when flying) for p. 

On the other hand, one and the same letter is repre¬ 
sented by divers characters, called on that account 
homophones. In Bunsen’s “ Complete List,” A is 
represented by an arm, an eagle, a reed, a pike (fish), 
a chisel, an altar, a spotted skin, a goose, a tree, 
a cross, an eye with the brow, a perch (fish), a pair of 
horns, a purse, a cow’s ear, a penknife, an unknown 
object (possibly a centipede), an arm holding a club, 
an arm with a ball, the head of a sparrowhawk, 


TIIE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


85 



a flower, a water-plant, a bunch of flowers, a four- 
petaled (cross-shaped) flower, a feather, a man looking 
behind him, a basket, and a hook; all standing for 
words beginning with an a , and making twenty-eight 
different methods of expressing that one letter. Not 
one letter is expressed only by a single sign, and but 
three by so few as five. The H, so injuriously treated in 
modern European dialects, enjoys no less 
than thirty different signs appropriated 
to its expression by the ancient Egyptians. 

Three of them actually anticipate the 
letter itself, being composed of a man 
holding two palm branches perpendicularly at arm’s 
length. To add to the difficulties of the interpreter, the 
hieroglyphical characters occur in all three uses in the 
same inscriptions, and even in the same words ; the 
first syllable, perhaps, being expressed pictorially or 
symbolically, and the next by a combination of pho¬ 
netic signs. 

It is obvious that conventional rules must have 
been necessary to limit the confusion arising from this 
indiscriminate mixture, and some of these have been 
ascertained. While all the hieroglyphics may be used 
pictorially, and most of them .symbolically, the pho¬ 
netic use is limited to certain objects or postures. 
Some signs are never phonetic, and some only in par¬ 
ticular shapes; thus an open hand (tef) may stand 
for t, but in any other posture the hand must be read 
as a picture or a symbol. 

Another device was the employment of determinative 
signs. A group of phonetic characters constituting a 
word is followed by a picture of the object denoted ; 
which is thus expressed twice over, first by the 
several letters which compose its name, and then by a 




86 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


pictorial hieroglyphic of the whole. 1 A kind of sym¬ 
bolical determinative was also used to limit the mean¬ 
ing of the previous signs to particular classes of things. 
Thus an egg was adopted as a sign of the feminine 
gender, and when added to a name signified a goddess 
or a woman. A hatchet was determinative of the 
name of a god, because the same word nter expressed 
both ideas. A mason’s mallet determines the actions 
of building, a boat those of sailing, and the like. 

The discovery of the phonetic characters certainly 
opened a source of information more authentic than 
any before attained; yet it must be borne in mind that 
much uncertainty attends the employment of the 
several signs, while many remain altogether unknown. 
Hence no little difference still exists among the inter¬ 
preters, and the results are often purely conjectural. 
It is even questioned into what language the hierogly¬ 
phics ought to be read. The existing Coptic, being 
considered to be the descendant and representative 
of the ancient Egyptian, is therefore made the basis 
of all the interpretations; but some critics are not 
satisfied of its identity with the ancient dialect, and 
it is certain that considerable diversities exist. The 
interpreter has not only to select his alphabet out of 
a score of contending homophones, to supply vowels 
at discretion, and to exercise his fancy upon the deter¬ 
minative, but to arrange and interpret the words so 
created, with no other grammar or lexicon than he can 
pick up by comparison with other inscriptions. “ It 
is a misconception,” says Mr. Birch, “to suppose that 
our Coptic lexica afford efficient assistance in difficul¬ 
ties, for it is generally necessary to determine the 

1 As if the captain, the archer, and the butcher were followed by 
a modem “Hansom.” 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


87 


sense of the words, and then to seek the word in the 
Coptic or cognate language. 1 

Sir Gr. C. Lewis, in his recent work on the Astronomy 
of the Ancients, stigmatizes the whole system as 
“ flexible and arbitrary.” He regards as suspicious 
Champollion’s sudden facility in a science which could 
only be surely established by long and careful induc¬ 
tion, and he more than doubts the language into 
which the hieroglyphics are read. The opinion that 
Coptic is the ancient Egyptian put into Greek cha¬ 
racters he pronounces untenable, maintaining that the 
tradition of the ancient tongue is so hopelessly lost, 
like that of the Etruscan and Lycian, that if its words 
were accurately recovered they could only be explained 
by conjecture. Einally, this distinguished critic pro¬ 
nounces the notion that a system so intricate as the 
hieroglyphic could remain in use for twenty-two cen¬ 
turies without alteration to be “ utterly incredible. ’ 
These strictures strike at the root of the entire system, 
and would render valueless all the labours of its inter¬ 
preters. Without adopting them in all their severity, 
we may safely conclude that the study is too precarious 
to be allowed to contradict any received authority. 

Some errors have been exposed, and a few leading 
principles established. In particular, the dogmatic 
assertions of the scientific opponents of the Bible have 
been signally refuted. Champollion has proved to a 
demonstration that no existing monument comes 
within two or three centuries of the flood; and no 
theory, which calls in question the Bible history, can 
be reasonably listened to from the interpreters of 
hieroglyphics. Still, enough has been unveiled to 
afford some glimpses into the earliest state of society 

1 Transactions Royal Society of Literature, vol. iv., new series. 


88 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


recorded anywhere out of the Bible, and the results 
are both curious and instructive. 

The following specimens may serve to illustrate the 
nature of the hieroglyphics, and the character of the 
sentiments they express. The first is taken from the 
Luxor obelisk, which now stands in the Place de la 
Concorde at Paris. The inscription is addressed to 
Bameses the Great, and will be seen to bear a marked 
resemblance to the style of Hebrew poetry. 


A mouth (ro), phonetic of r ) « name ” 
aa/w\ Water (wm), „ nj ’ * [“name. 

Cord or ring encircling the royal names, determinative of 
Bowl with handle, phonetic of k, here stands for ek , affix 
of pronoun thee=of thee or “ thy.” 
mint Embattled wall, phonetic of m ) .. , „ 

/vw\ Water (as before), „ n ( ’ r 

Lid of a box, determinative of placing. 

** 8 Q Bight hand sign, a weight ( cha ), symbolical of equality. 

^ /k Left hand, pictorial of “heaven,” surmounted by the article 
(a short stroke) and a hemisphere, determinative of 
the feminine gender. 

M Right hand, a reel (?), phonetic of h \ (< duration „ 

«00 Left hand, an arm, „ a } ha ' duratlon - 

_J Below, the disk of the sun, symbolical of “ day,” preceded 

by the article (as before). 

Bowl (as before) for ek, “ thy.” 

I Right hand, a reed, phonetic of a \ 

0 f Left hand, hemisphere, „ t / aten, the “ sun’s disk.” 
Below, water „ n) 

Lastly, the sun’s disk, determinative of the preceding. 


This inscription therefore reads, “Thy name (is) 
placed like the heaven, the duration of thy day (is as) 
the disk of the sun.” 

Our next example is a specimen of the rude ditties 
which cheered the labours of the threshing-floor. 
Mr. Osburn has paraphrased it in English as follows:— 

Heigh, heigh, oxen, tread the corn faster, 

The straw for yourselves, the grain for your master. 

It is written as on the following page:— 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


89 



/WW\ 

f ( I 

/VWV\ 

/ww\ 

I I I 


Eight hand sign, a twisted cord, phonetic of h or hu , the 
sound uttered by the drover. 

Left hand, a man with a stick, determinative of the im¬ 
perative mood. 

Beneath, an arm with a club, determinative of forcible 
action: the whole, “ tread out.” 

Phonetic of t and n (as before) ten, “you;” three strokes, 
sign of the plural number. 

n, sign of preposition “ for.” 

ten, “you,” or “yourselves,” repeated. 


// 0 Twice, i. e., da capo , the sentence to be twice repeated.l 

An ox, pictorial for the animal: three strokes, plural 
number = 0! oxen. 


I I 


7\. A f (First group repeated), “tread out.” 
J 

(Second ditto), “ yourselves.” 

/WVNA 


/WW\ 

I 


| (Third ditto), “ for yourselves.” 

ST/x MFirst group again), “tread out.’ 

* 


I I I 

A/WVS 

A 

/vwvs. 


(Second and third again), “ yourselves for yourselves ” 


I I I 



Open hand, phonetic of t ( tha , “straw ). 

Boot of reeds or stubble, determinative of “ straw.” 


d 

///W 


+ 

I J I 


This group not explained (probably “ masters”). 

Right hand a cross, phonetic of a 1 am, prep in or 
Left hand an owl, „ ™ S with, also eat. 

Man seated, with sign of plural number. 

1 So explained by Mr. Osburn. 



90 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Ill* 

/ww\ 


A bushel of grain, pictorial and plural. 
entiy “ who” (are). 


in/ 

A 

/WW\ 

I I I 


“Masters,” (Osburn). 

ten (as before), “ youplaced after the noun as the sign 
of the genitive case “of you” or “your.” 


The inscription therefore reads, “ Tread out your¬ 
selves for yourselves (da capo) ; 0 oxen, tread out 
yourselves for yourselves; tread out yourselves for 
yourselves, the straw.... for men the grain, who 
(are) your masters.” 

A third specimen will illustrate the form observed 
in the royal epitaphs. It is from the sarcophagus of 
Queen Onknas, sister of the Pharaoh Hophra men¬ 
tioned in Jeremiah xliv. 30, which was found at 
Thebes, and is now in the British Museum 



<s^ 


il 

If 

If 



[ 4 * 

4$ 



Ti 

& 


if 

i 

0—, 

Ri 

a « 



A 


Col. 1. The Osirian (that is, the deceased) Queen 
(Onk-nas, sun with the good-heart), the truth-teller. 
The royal daughter of (Psametik) the truth-teller. 


Col. 2. The Osirian (deceased) Queen (Onknas, 
sun with the good heart), the truth-teller: her 
mother was the divine Queen (Nitrocis), the truth- 
teller. 


















THE HIEBOGLYPHICS. 


91 


It will be observed that the two inscriptions differ 
only in the names of the parents of the deceased. 
Both begin with the eye, throne, and hatchet, emblems 
of Osiris, and denoting that the person has passed to his 
judgment in the other world. Then follow the basket, 
symbolical of lordship, with the hatchet prefixed, and 
the feminine affix equivalent to “ queen.” The royal 
name is enclosed in a ring like a seal,- supposed to be 
copied from the flat underside of the scarabeus , or 
sacred beetle: this ring is the invariable distinction of 
regal persons, and is called their shield, scutcheon, or 
cartouche. The first sign (9), called the crux ansata , 
and pronounced anx , has the meaning of life; the 
second is the undulating line, denoting water, or the 
letter n ; and the third is a chair-back, phonetic of s, 
reading Anknes. Under the name, and within the 
ring, are the figures of the sun on the left, a lute in 
the middle, and a heart on the right. The lute is 
pronounced nofre; and this being also the word for 
good or beautiful, these signs read, “ sun with a good 
heart”—a royal epithet, analogous, perhaps, to our 
phrase “illustrious and gracious.” Below the shield 
is a broad line, the conventional contraction of ma 
(truth), followed by the hemisphere and a hand, 
phonetic of tu (speaking); this group reads, “ truth- 
teller ;” i. e., one who is justified by the judge of the 
dead. The plant to the left of the next group is a sort 
of reed, which stands beside the wasp, or bee, over 
the royal scutcheons, in token of royalty; the reed 
representing the Upper, and the insect the Lower 
region. 1 The egg and hemisphere signify “ daughter.” 

1 These symbols are perhaps referred to in 2 Kings xviii. 21; 
Ezek. xxix. 6; and Isa. vii. 18 : the reed and the fly may have be¬ 
come proverbial expressions in Palestine, denoting the distrust and 
fear of Egypt. 


92 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The bowl with two lines is read neb ta , “ great lord,” 
and is often found over a royal scutcheon in the later 
dynasties. The shield below it contains the phonetic 
signs of^? (a square), s (chair-back), m (owl), t (cord 
with a loop at each end), and k (the bowl with a 
handle), reading Psmetik , or Psamaticus. Below are 
the same characters as before for “justified.” 

In the second column the upper half is the same as 
in the first. The signs denoting “royal daughter” 
are then replaced by the vulture, the symbol of 
maternity, with the feminine affix, reading “ mother.” 
Next follow the hatchet and basket, denoting “divine 
queen,” and then a shield, containing her name in 
phonetic signs, n, t, k, o, r; with the egg and 
hemisphere, both significations of the feminine gen¬ 
der. The scutcheon is followed by the usual ma-tu , 
“justified.”' 

It will be observed from these examples that the 
hieroglyphics are usually placed in vertical columns, 
reading from the top downward;—an arrangement very 
suitable to the Egyptian obelisk. On tablets they are 
found in horizontal lines, which are read both from 
right to left, as in Hebrew and other Asiatic languages, 
and from left to right, as among ourselves: sometimes 
the line divides in the middle, and is read from the 
centre to the flanks, or vice versd, from the flanks 
to the centre, according to the whim of the artist. 1 
Eurther varieties arise from the license assumed by the 
sculptor of arranging the characters in the most com¬ 
pact and symmetrical forms; and all these add greatly 
to the difficulties of the decipherer. 

1 The rule is to read in the direction to which the figures face; 
but an object is sometimes reversed, as a ship with its prow to the 
opposite side, to signify a sailing away . 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


93 


In addition to the Monuments the ancient Egyp¬ 
tians have left behind them a considerable number 
of Papyri , written in the hieroglyphic character. 
The larger proportion of these sacred MSS., how¬ 
ever, are in a later abbreviated character termed 
hieratic , a sort of running hand derived from the 
hieroglyphics for the convenience of the pen. Writing, 
though not so ancient as carving on stone, was very 
early practised in Egypt. One of the deities is depicted 
with a style and roll of paper, as secretary to the gods. 
Scribes are represented, also, on many of the monu¬ 
ments ; though they were probably a limited and pro¬ 
fessional order, since “no hooks ever appear among 
the furniture of a house, no one is ever represented 
reading, except in some sacred function, and no female 
is ever seen reading or writing.” 1 The hieratic letters 
were written in a horizontal line from left to right, in 
the modern European way; and on the Eosetta Stone 
both the hieroglyphics and the enchorial inscriptions 
take the same direction. 

The enchorial was another running hand, derived 
from the hieroglyphic, hut by a later deterioration: 
it was used in epistles and ordinary compositions, 
and probably expresses the popular, not the sacred 
language. It is called the “ writing of the multitude ” 
on the Eosetta Stone, exactly answering to the demotic 
of Herodotus. 

The papyri found in the tombs are ancient and 
numerous; they are to be met with in all the museums 
of Europe, but few have been deciphered, and only 
two or three fragments are as yet published. They are 
written with ink on long rolls made from the pith of the 
papyrus. The layers were pressed into flat slips, and 
1 Kenrick, i. 284. 


94 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


glued together to the desired breadth; a similar 
breadth was then joined to the first at right angles, 
and so on to any length that might be needed. 1 The 
papyrus was a more convenient material than the 
palm leaves and bark resorted to by other ancient 
nations, and far cheaper than parchment. 

Some of the ancient papyri are brilliantly illumi¬ 
nated. The oldest is probably in the Museum at 
Turin, parts of which have been published by Lepsius 
under the title of the “ Book of the Dead.” It 
is written in the hieroglyphic character, and orna¬ 
mented with pictures illustrative of the ancient belief 
in a future life. Portions of this work are often found 
interred with the mummies; Bunsen is sanguine 
enough to pronounce it one of the “sacred books” 
attributed to Thoth. 

Of the so-called historical papyri the most cele¬ 
brated is that of Sallier, now in the British Museum, 
written in the hieratic character, and supposed to be 
a collection of songs in praise of the kings. The 
Turin Museum contains another ancient papyrus of 
great value, termed jRoyal, from its containing a long 
list of Egyptian monarchs. The enumeration is 
supposed to have originally comprehended at least 
two hundred and fifty names, divided into dynasties; 
but the relic is so excessively mutilated, that the pains 
bestowed by Lepsius on its reconstruction have suc¬ 
ceeded in rendering only a few names legible, and no¬ 
thing is found to determine their chronology. 

These papyri, with the tablets of Abydos, Karnak, 
and some shorter successions occasionally recorded in 
the tombs, are the materials now relied on for disen- 

t The layers were joined on at right angles, i.e., the layers running 
the contrary way to the preceding piece, in order to give strength. 


THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 


95 


tangling the Egyptian annals from the confusion in 
which the historians have left them. In point of fact, 
however, not a single fragment really historical has as 
yet been produced. If any native author employed 
his pen in recording the deeds of his countrymen, his 
labours remain undeciphered; all that we possess are 
barren catalogues of names, supported by no authori¬ 
ties, connected with no facts, and often discordant from 
other similar lists. 

Some Egyptologists seem to forget that successions, 
extending to scores and even hundreds of sovereigns, 
must have been compiled long after their reigns, and 
owe all their value to the accuracy of the traditions 
which they follow. Legends carved upon stone, or 
written upon papyrus, are only legends still. Eiction 
is not turned into fact by the art of the stonemason, 
nor is tradition more credible when repeated from 
one Egyptian to another, than when palmed off upon 
the wondering Greeks. Whatever value may attach 
to the monuments and papyri, as illustrating the con¬ 
dition of Ancient Egypt, it has yet to be shown that 
their authors possessed the materials for writing its 
history with accuracy, even supposing that we rightly 
understand what they have written. 



96 


CHAPTER V. 

THE HISTORIANS. 

The Pentateuch—Moses the First Egyptian Authority — Inspiration—Objected to 
by the Unregenerated — Adds a new Sanction to Reason — Herodotus—Dates and 
Authority — Manetho—His Authorities fictitious — Menes—Dynasties and 
Reigns—No Registers — Eratosthenes—Different List—Both Works Lost — Jose¬ 
phus—Christian Chronologies—Julius Africahus—Eusebius of Caesarea—George 
Syncellus—Old Chronicon—Sir John Mar sham—Monumental Corrections — 
Discrepancies — Various Schemes of Reconciliation—Baron von Bunsen — A 
German Manetho — Inconsistencies — Diodorus — Strabo—Nothing Authentic. 

The oldest and, beyond comparison, the most authentic 
notices of Ancient Egypt, are to be found in the book 
of Genesis. Apart from the sanctions of inspiration, 
the Bible surpasses every other book in the purity 
and genuineness of its text, in the probity of its 
writers, and the credibility of its contents. The 
Pentateuch exists at this day as it came from the 
hand of Moses; its various readings (if we except 
the numbers which compose its chronology) are insig¬ 
nificant, and its general authenticity is guaranteed by 
a religious veneration, never intermitted for a moment. 
No inscniption or papyrus in Egypt can pretend to 
be older than the book of Genesis; while none has 
undergone a tenth part of the investigation inces¬ 
santly applied to the writings of Moses. 

By one class of objectors the authority of Moses is 
depreciated, as being only the Jewish version of the 
events he has recorded; it is insinuated that a different 
account might be given by the Egyptians. Setting 
apart, however, for a moment the claims of inspiration, it 
must be remembered that Moses, though a Hebrew by 
descent, and choosing his part with the race to which he 


THE HISTORIANS. 


97 


belonged, was by birth and education an Egyptian. He 
was “ learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” His 
very name was, perhaps, drawn from their language . 1 
Erom his Jewish contemporaries he could derive little 
beyond the family pedigrees, with a few of the incidents 
which we find in his writings. He was himself the 
first historian and lawgiver of the Jews; while the 
whole range of Egyptian antiquity and theology lay 
open to his selection. , On all ordinary grounds, then, 
Moses should be held, by those who deny his inspira¬ 
tion, an Egyptian, much more than a Jewish, authority. 

In fact, the Egyptians themselves pretended that he 
was an apostate priest from their own persuasion, and 
that he copied his institutions from the temples which 
he deserted. This objection is, of course, wholly incon¬ 
sistent with the other; yet modern infidelity would 
avail itself of both, without heeding the contradiction. 
What it really rebels against is the claim to speak from 
God; but for this, the antiquity and personal know¬ 
ledge of Moses would be allowed to correct every 
other historian. Erom an unprejudiced reasoner, his 
books would command a deference, on their own 
account, only second to the claim which we assert for 
them in the name of religion ; but neither the intel¬ 
lect nor the heart of the unregenerate can tolerate a 
Divine revelation. To modern rationalism, idolatry 
itself seems a safer guide than the inspiration of the 
Holy Ghost. The wild legends of a heathen priest 
are preferred to the sober narrative of Moses; not 
because the latter was less informed, or less trust¬ 
worthy, but because he professed to have seen God, 
and to have received a law at his mouth. 

To the believer Inspiration adds a new and higher 
1 Mou-si, “ son of the water." 

H 





98 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


sanction to an author who already surpasses every 
other. Moses is for us the one historian of primitive 
antiquity. His narrative, internally so superior tp the 
monstrous fables of heathen antiquity, commends itself 
to the reason no less than the conscience: the internal 
evidence is in accordance with the external: we thank¬ 
fully accept the inspired history as the single foun¬ 
tain of truth, among the many polluted cisterns of 
legend and fable. 

Next, hut fully a thousand years later, and everyway 
inferior in critical value, is Herodotus, the father of 
secular history. He was horn about fifty years after 
the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 
when the inspiration and prophecy of the elder cove¬ 
nant were uttering its last words. Esther was counter¬ 
plotting Ham an in the court of Persia, and Cincinnatus 
was going hack to his plough from the dictatorship of 
Home, while Herodotus was writing his history. He 
read it in the ears of assembled Greece in the same 
year (b. c. 445) that Ezra arranged the canon of the 
Old Testament. 

At that time Egypt being revered as the source of 
Greek letters and religion, Herodotus went to pur¬ 
sue his inquiries at the fountain head. The long 
line of Pharaohs had only just sunk under the Persian 
conquest. The temples were still standing in all their 
splendour, the monuments intact, and the hiero¬ 
glyphics, though a hidden lore to foreigners, familiar 
as household words to the priests. Herodotus visited 
Memphis and Heliopolis, where Moses studied ten or 
twelve centuries earlier, and Joseph, perhaps, erected 
the obelisk which is now its sole remaining monument. 
Thales, and Pythagoras, and, as many think, Plato had 
been there before him, bringing away secrets which 


TI1E HISTORIANS. 


99 


kindled the historian’s most ardent curiosity. He 
interrogated the priests of Vulcan, whose stately 
temple adorned the ancient capital, and carefully ex¬ 
amined into the royal successions registered at Thebes. 
The priests conducted him into their sanctuaries, 
unrolled their papyri, then whole and unmutilated, 
and showed him the statues of their predecessors. 
He conversed with them on the origin of Egyptian 
civilization, and collected the traditions of the people 
with a fidelity which betrayed him into many impro¬ 
bable, and evidently fabulous, relations. Yet Herodotus 
was not without much critical acumen, and his re¬ 
marks evince great shrewdness and common sense. 
Like Moses, he has been subjected to the sneers of 
less informed critics, but his works supplied the first 
landmarks of classical history; and the latest Egyptian 
researches go to show that little has really been added 
to the stores of his information. 

Two centuries after Herodotus, when intercourse 
with the Greeks was full and frequent, Manetho, 
a native of Sebennytus, and high priest of Heliopolis, 
undertook to correct the mistakes of Herodotus, by a 
native history compiled under the patronage of the 
early Ptolemies. His work was written in the Greek 
language, but pretended to be derived from certain 
pillars in the Siriadic land which had been inscribed in 
the sacred dialect of Thoth before the flood (/). Their 
contents, translated into Greek, were said to have 
been laid up in the Egyptian temples by the second 
Thoth. The pillars were of course fictitious j 1 and the 
Greek language was unknown in Egypt at the time 

1 Josephus refers to two such pillars, engraved by the children of 
Seth , as standing in his own day. He probably confounded Seth with 
Setei the father of Raineses the Great {Jud. Ant. i. 2). 


100 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


referred to. No classical historian condescended to 
notice this hook; the Christian author to whom we are 
indebted for the little that remains of it, introduces its 
author as “ Manetho the Sebennyte, high priest of the 
detestable Egyptian mysteries, who according to 
Berosus lived under Ptolemy Philadelphus, as great a 
liar as Berosus himself .” 

Manetho obviously wrote with a view of astonish¬ 
ing the Greeks by a mythological antiquity exceeding 
their own, and of which Herodotus heard nothing 
from the earlier priests. His authorities were doubt¬ 
less the monuments which the Greek world was 
then flocking to inspect, and for these he provided a 
history much after the manner of our own popular 
guide books. His annals opened with a succession of 
gods, heroes, and manes (ghosts!), who reigned over 
Egypt for 24,925 years before Menes, the first human 
king. Menes himself was placed 5702 years before 
the Christian era; be stood at the head of ninety 
dynasties, comprehending 495 sovereigns, the last of 
whom was Pharaoh Nectanebus, who succumbed to 
the Persian arms in the time of Herodotus. 1 Of 
these 495 kings only 149 were known to the historian 
even by name. No authorities are quoted for his state¬ 
ments ; and it is obvious that Manetho could have had 

1 The totals, as summed up at the end of (he dynasties and 
volumes, constantly differ from the actual total of the years specified 
for each reign. Eusebius also differs widely from African us both in the 
number and duration of the reigns. The first book of Manetho, contain¬ 
ing the eleven earlier dynasties, is said in Africanus’s text to contain 
192 kings, but the actual sum is 200. In the second book (Dyn. xii.— 
xix.) the sum stated is 9G; but the rulers enumerated, named and 
unnamed, amount to 234. Comparing these numbers with those 
of the third book (Dyn. xx.—xxx.), of which the total is only 
61, we see at once that the earlier books must contain many con¬ 
temporaneous reigns, though their durations are added together as if 
they were successive. 


THE HISTORIANS. 


101 


access to none, that were not equally or better known 
to the priests who conversed with Herodotus, and still 
more to Moses. If the reigns of the kings were really 
recorded in the temple registers by contemporaneous 
scribes, they would have told the same story to all 
who consulted them. The irreconcilable differences 
between Manetho and the Greek writers, and between 
one Greek and another, demonstrate that no such 
registers ever existed, but that each has recorded a 
tradition which was neither uniform nor authentic. 
Manetho was clearly not recognised as an authority 
in his own day, since neither Diodorus nor Strabo, 
who wrote after him, either mention his work or accept 
its statements. 

Manetho was followed in the next century by 
Eratosthenes, the keeper of the celebrated library at 
Alexandria, an author eminent in grammar, philo¬ 
sophy, poetry, and mathematics, but who starved him¬ 
self to death at the age of 82 (b.c. 194), in resentment 
at being disabled, by loss of sight, from prosecuting 
his studies. He was the author of a Greek chrono¬ 
logy which is now universally rejected. He collected 
also the annals of the Egyptian kings by order of 
another Ptolemy, who was apparently not satisfied with 
the performance of Manetho. These were arranged, 
not in dynasties, but in one consecutive list, com¬ 
mencing, like his predecessor’s, with Menes, but ex¬ 
hibiting little further resemblance. It professed to be 
taken from the registers of Thebes, and placed Menes 
about the year b.c. 2600. 

The works of both these historians are now lost, 
only a few fragments having been preserved in later 
writers. Josephus copied some passages from Manetho, 
interspersed with adaptations of his own to suit them 


102 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


to his views of Jewish chronology; and this is all that 
remains of the history itself. The Christian chrono- 
logers of a later era preserved the names of the kings, 
with a memoranda of a few principal events, in “ lists,” 
which may, or may not, have been annexed by Manetho 
to the original work, but which have certainly been 
doctored to meet the theories of the commentators. 

The first of these was Julius Africanus, a learned 
pagan who embraced Christianity at Alexandria, and 
after being admitted to holy orders died at an advanced 
age in the third century. He was the author of a chro¬ 
nology commencing with the Creation (which, accord¬ 
ing to his view of Scripture chronology, is to be dated at 
5499 b.c.), and continued down to the year of our 
Lord 221. Africanus, who was well versed in Egyp¬ 
tian literature, had the work of Manetho before 
him, and states that he was himself possessed of 
one of the “sacred books” referred to in its pages. 
He exhibited the dynasties in two versions, differ¬ 
ing in some important particulars from each other 
and from Josephus. The commentator, however, 
shared the fate of his author; and the labours of 
Africanus survived only in the later chronology of 
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in the fourth century. 

Having .taken refuge in Egypt during the Diocle¬ 
tian persecution, Eusebius was there seized and cast 
into prison, but escaped after witnessing the martyr¬ 
dom of his friends, not without suspicion of pur¬ 
chasing his immunity by offering sacrifice to the idols. 
Eusebius, having adopted and enlarged the labours of 
Africanus, published a chronicon, exhibiting the royal 
successions in all the countries of the known world. 
This great work exists only in an Armenian trans¬ 
lation discovered in the year 1820, and rendered into 


THE HISTORIANS. 


103 


Latin by Cardinal Mai; the translation is printeJ in 
the Vatican collection. 

Till the publication of this version the single 
authority both for Africanus and Eusebius was a 
Byzantine monk (a.d. 792) named George the Si/ncellus, 
or coadjutor, of the Patriarch of Constantinople. His 
chronography preserves the lists of Manetho as given 
by his two more eminent predecessors, and his accu¬ 
racy is generally confirmed by the Armenian transla¬ 
tion of Eusebius. 

Of Eratosthenes the remains are still fewer and not 
more trustworthy than those of Manetho. A part only 
of his list was preserved by Apollodorus of Athens, 
a writer who flourished about 146 b. c., and wrote a 
chronicle in Iambic verse, long since lost. Syncell is 
has transcribed from him the names of thirty-eight 
“ Theban kings,” commencing with Menes, and ex¬ 
tending over 1076 years. There were three and fifty 
more, which the monk thought it superfluous to 
copy, as being of no kind of use, “ nor indeed (he 
frankly adds) can much more be said of those which 
precede them.” 

In point of fact, then, all that passes under the names 
of Manetho and Eratosthenes, instead of being native 
authorities of the third or fourth century, is the 
compilation of Jewish and Christian writers, passing 
from hand to hand, and reduced to its present form 
by a Greek monk, more than a thousand years after 
the historians were dead. The originals were deformed 
by heathen fables, and the copies were avowedly 
manipulated to suit the views of the successive com¬ 
mentators. 

Syncellus has preserved another work attributed to 
Manetho, called the Old Chronicon; but this is now 


104 


AXCIEKT EGYPT. 


agreed to be a compilation of the fourth or fifth cen¬ 
tury after Christ. 

From the materials now enumerated Sir John Mar- 
sham constructed a chronological canon , which obtained 
a considerable degree of acceptance in the last century; 
but since the discovery of the key to the hieroglyphic 
characters his arrangement has been found inconsis¬ 
tent with the monuments, and recourse has been again 
had, by the light of their information, to the lists pre¬ 
served in Syncellus. 

As those lists were originally compiled in presence 
of the existing monuments, and with a full knowledge 
of their inscriptions, it is to be expected that modern 
decipherments, so far as they are correct, will agree 
with their testimony. Such agreement adds nothing 
to the credibility of the historian. The monuments 
furnished the notes from which the Egyptian authors 
wrote. When they agree with Herodotus, who was 
unacquainted with hieroglyphics, they supply some 
evidence of an independent character; but in agree¬ 
ing with Manetho and Eratosthenes, they only repeat 
themselves, adding nothing to the authenticity of 
the information, or the value of the explanation. To 
jump at the conclusion that their statements are cor¬ 
roborated by the monuments, because of some patent 
facts found in both, is to reason like Smith the weaver, 
who thought it proved that Cade, the bricklayer’s 
son, was heir to the crown of England, because his 
father made a chimney in his father’s house, “ and 
the bricks are alive at this day to witness if I lie!” 

On the other hand, every discrepancy between the 
monuments and the Egyptian historians raises a grave 
suspicion against both. It is the disagreement of 
confederate witnesses on separate examination. Either 


THE HISTORIANS. 


105 


the historian wilfully falsified an authentic record 
which stared him in the face, or he had reasons of 
which we are ignorant for distrusting the monumental 
inscription. 

In point of fact, the Monuments (as hitherto inter¬ 
preted) agree with the Lists so far as to show that the 
latter are not absolutely fictitious; they differ so far 
as to prove that other and conflicting sources of. in¬ 
formation were consulted, of which we know nothing. 
Whether these were found in temple registers, or were 
collected from tradition, or supplied by the imagina¬ 
tion of the writer, we can never know. But that the 
prospect of any genuine reconciliation is now des¬ 
perate, is proved by the conflicting schemes adopted 
by ChampolHon, Kosellini, Wilkinson, and. other 
acknowledged authorities, before the appearance of 
the Prussian School. 

The latest and most pretentious arrangement is 
that of Bunsen, who has undertaken to reduce 
Manetho and Eratosthenes to agreement with each 
other and the monuments, on the assumption that 
the thirty-eight Theban kings exhibit the true chro¬ 
nological succession of the ancient monarchy. He 
is far, however, from accepting either historian as he 
stands. His process is first to assign so much of the 
text in Syncellus to the historian, and so much to the 
editor, as seems most convenient, and then to subject 
the remainder to a liberal application of hypothesis 
and conjecture. Neither Manetho nor Eratosthenes 
is trusted for half a dozen steps by himself. They 
undergo correction in the names of the kings, the 
length of their reigns, the nature and date of the 
events, and in the meaning of all they record. Beigns 
and dynasties are made successive or contemporaneous 






106 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


on no internal or external evidence; kings are trans¬ 
planted from one dynasty to another; and the result 
is an arrangement which not only was certainly never 
registered in any Egyptian temple, but in all proba¬ 
bility never entered the thoughts of any Egyptian 
writer;—a “ German Manetho,” in short, with whom, 
it has been justly remarked, that “ names go for little, 
and numbers for nothing.” The author talks largely 
of recent discoveries; but, in point of fact, nothing 
has been brought to light which was not much 
better known to the authorities whom he under¬ 
takes to correct. Manetho and Eratosthenes minis¬ 
tered in the temples when entire, and read the papyri 
before they were reduced to tatters. Africanus 
visited Egypt before the key to the hieroglyphics was 
lost. He read and digested the entire works from 
which only these barren catalogues of names have come 
down to us. He was possessed of some of the 
sacred books themselves; in short, his information, 
historical, critical, and monumental, was in every 
respect superior to that on which he is now subjected 
to emendation. 

The truth appears to be, that there did not exist, 
either in his time or Manetho’s, much less in our own, 
the materials for a genuine Egyptian history. The 
native writers followed the tradition of their own 
temples or schools, and these were really discordant. 
Even in the time of Herodotus the priests were 
unable to supply an authentic history; and this was 
not a deficiency to be repaired in later ages. After 
the conquest of Alexander the Great, the Greeks 
flocked in great numbers to explore antiquities which 
excited as lively a curiosity then as now. The temples 
were standing, and every authority was available which 


THE HISTORIANS. 


107 


could possibly have been in the hands of Manetho or 
Eratosthenes. The inconsistencies and contradictions 
found in the Greek writings can only be attributed 
to the prevalence of various traditions, none of which 
supplied the materials of a genuine history. 

Of the later Greek authorities the principal were 
Diodorus the Sicilian, who visited Egypt about sixty 
years before the birth of Christ, and Strabo, the geo¬ 
grapher, who followed a little after the Christian era. 
Both were men of observation and research. In reca¬ 
pitulating the labours of their predecessors, they add 
their own testimony with accuracy and fidelity. The 
complaints sometimes made of their carelessness are 
perhaps mainly due to want of knowledge or veracity 
in the priests, on whom they were dependent for 
information. 

Diodorus, beginning like others with Menes as the 
first mortal king, places him about 5000 years b.c., 
but both his history and chronology are utterly dif¬ 
ferent from his predecessors. In fact, the four his¬ 
torians, two Greek and two Egyptian, all deriving 
their information from the priests, are found to differ 
so irreconcilably as to demonstrate that no authentic 
registers could have existed. The Greek writers were 
imposed on by the priests who acted as their guides. 
Erom the Egyptians it is impossible to remove the 
charge that, like other heathen fabulists, they palmed 
off as authentic what they knew to be legendary, 
and helped out their deficiencies by drawing on their 
imagination. In short, any theory which implies the 
historical truth of the Manethonian dynasties rests 
on a foundation of sand. 1 

1 Sir G. 0. Lewis on the Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 393. 


CHAPTEK VI. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION*. 

Incredible Antiquity assigned to Idolatry — Extravagancies of Bunsen—Heathen 
Fictions—Book of Genesis—Idolatry in Chaldea — Not in Canaan—Nor in Egypt ' 
at Abraham's Visit—Possible Revelation to Sons of Ham—Biblical Notes — 
Egyptian Philosophy—Rise of Idolatry — Pyramids Monotheistic — Legends of 
their Founders—Religious Revolution — Chufuor Suphis — Original Faith — Con¬ 
trast of Mosaic with Egyptian Rites—Necessity of Revelation — Progress of ■ 
Idolatry—Soul of the Universe — Pantheism—Worship of Nature and the Sun — } 
Book of Wisdom — Idols — Man-worship — Want of System — The True Light. 

Among the misconceptions which have contributed 
to attach an extravagant antiquity to Egyptian chro¬ 
nology, is the assumption that the idolatry portrayed 
on the later monuments existed from the infancy of 
the nation and the origin of its language. “ Religion 
and language, (we are told) mythology and writing, 
appear in the dynasty of Menes, its names and 
monuments, as the native element, the indigenous 
groundwork of the development of the empire. The 
city of Amun implies the worship of Amun; Abydos 
(the city of Osiris) that of Osiris ; the name of Athothis 
the worship of Thoth. There is a scutcheon containing 
the name of Menes in the royal palace of the Great 
Rameses, on which the well-known hieroglyphics are 
engraved throughout. This establishes the union of 
the phonetic and symbolic systems which marks the 
position of Egypt in the development of writing .” 1 
The incredibility of such a theory has been well pointed 
1 Bunsen, ii. 53. 




THE PRIMITIVE BEttftJlON. 


109 


out by Sir G-. C. Lewis. 1 It was natural enough in the 
mouths of the heathen priests, from whom the Egypto¬ 
logists have accepted it; but if true, it must follow 
either that no primitive and true faith was revealed to 
mankind, or that time enough had elapsed, before the 
settlement of Egypt, to supplant it by an intricate and 
elaborate system of idolatry. Both alternatives are 
contrary at once to Scripture and to historical pro¬ 
bability. If Menes were Mizraim, the grandson of 
Noah, he must have inherited the religion of that 
second father of mankind. If the name designates 
some later founder of Memphis, there is no pretence 
for connecting it with the infancy of the language or 
the nation. 

The passage just quoted from Bunsen is a singular 
proof of how easily a prejudice in favour of prodigious 
antiquity can misstate the evidence pretended to be 
adduced. Almost every word is open to contradic¬ 
tion. Of the “dynasty of Menes” nothing at all 
“ appears,” save in the catalogue of Manetho, where 
it stands in immediate succession to the gods and the 
manes. Monuments it has none; and its names are 
“ found ” only in the traditions of later days. The 
“scutcheon containing the name of Menes” was the 
production, not of his age, but of that of Bameses. 
The founder of Memphis was then called Menes, as the 
founder of Borne was called by the Caesars Bomulus, 
and as Ebraucus, in British tradition, was the founder 
of York. To suppose that those two syllables actually 
constituted his proper name, or were expressed by 
himself in the hieroglyphic characters found on the 
tablet of Abydos, is an absurdity of -which none but 
an enthusiastic Egyptologist could be guilty. 

1 Astronomj' of the Ancients. 




110 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Again, there is not a shadow of evidence for the 
existence of the “ cities of Amun and Osiris ” in 
the time of Menes. Abydos is just named in the 
incoherent legends of Manetho; if Osiris be, as is 
probable, only another name for Menes, it may have 
been his city and his burying-place, without in the 
least implying his worship. As for Thebes, it is 
never mentioned till the Ninth Dynasty, and was 
probably not founded till some centuries after Menes. 
Lastly, the name of Athothis is so far from “ implying 
the worship of Thoth,” that it exhibits the person so 
worshipped in his historical character of an ancient 
monarch. 

It may be granted that a natural connexion 
subsisted between the forms of Egyptian speech, and 
the characters chosen to express them, without stig¬ 
matizing the phonetic or symbolic signs as originally 
and essentially idolatrous. The Hebrew letters are 
thought to have been originally pictorial; 1 yet so far 
from being necessarily idolatrous, they were selected 
to record and perpetuate the revelation of the true God. 

In point of fact, the alleged antiquity of Egyptian 
idolatry is simply the fiction of its own priests. They 
told Herodotus that Menes built the temple of 
Vulcan; but they knew little about the Pyramids, 
though belonging to a much later period. Manetho, 
in like manner, pretends to name the king uf This, 
who established (in the “ dynasty ” next after that of 
Menes) the worship of the bull and the goat in the 
temples of Lower Egypt. But these Thinite kings are 
myths, of whom Eratosthenes and the earlier priests 
were ignorant; certainly, Lower Egypt was never 
under their dominion. Bunsen would help out the 
1 Osburn, p. 169. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION - . 


Ill 


fiction, by suggesting that the Thinite Pharaohs may 
have been the elder branch, and so invested with an 
ecclesiastical supremacy throughout Egypt. The hint 
would doubtless have been gladly accepted by the 
heathen fabulist, had any one been then so ingenious 
as to suggest it. 

Turning from these idle legends to the book of 
Genesis, we find no reason to suppose that the faith 
held by Noah had been corrupted by idolatry at the 
early period when Egypt was first colonized. The 
earliest mention of such corruptions in religion occurs 
at the time of Abram’s departure from Chaldea 
That idolatry then existed in that country, and that 
the family of the patriarch himself “ served other 
gods,” 1 is expressly stated. It was, doubtless, to 
separate him from this sin that the father of the 
faithful received the command so painful to natural 
affections:—“ Get thee out of thy country, and from 
thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land 
which I will show thee.” 2 It is reasonable to suppose 
that the land so selected was as yet free from the 
pollutions of that which he quitted. In point of fact, 
Abram experienced no molestation in Canaan, though 
in each place of his sojourn “ he builded an altar unto 
the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.” 3 
The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah indicates a 
wide-spread corruption of morals y but no allusion is 
made to idolatry , the sin which in after times was so 
conspicuously offensive. The kings with whom Abram 
allied himself met the patriarch at the sanctuary of 
Melchisedek, who “ was the priest of the most high 
God.” 4 It is probable, therefore, that they were still 

2 Gen. xii. 1. 

4 Gen. xiv. 17, 18. 


1 Josh. xxiv. 2. 
3 Gen. xii. 8. 



112 


AH’CIEXT EGYPT. 


followers of the religion of Noah. The special privi¬ 
lege vouchsafed to Abraham lay in the revelation of 
God’s holy name, Jehovah ; known indeed to Adam 
and to Noah, but gradually lost after the confusion of 
tongues at Babel. 1 Hence the form of Melchisedek’s 
benediction was, “Blessed be Abram of the Most 
High God, possessor (or Creator) of heaven and 
earth $” while the patriarch himself supplied the holy 
name, saying, “I have lift up mine hand unto Jehovah, 
the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth.” 2 

That the name of God comprehended his essential 
perfections, and was used in Holy Scripture as a kind 
of summary of revelation, may be seen from the fre¬ 
quency with which his commands are enforced by the 
solemn formula, “ I the Loed.” 3 The loss of God’s 
holy name, by weakening the recognition of his 
personal existence, w'ould, no doubt, facilitate the 
growth of idolatry; but their intercourse with Abra¬ 
ham seems inconsistent with any such apostasy already 
existing on the part of the primitive Canaanites. 

Now, the Egyptians were a branch of the same race, 

1 See Gen. xi. 8, 9. The true pronunciation of the four letters 
which form this holy name is unknown; but it was almost cer¬ 
tainly not as pronounced by ourselves. The Jews, deeming it too 
sacred to be uttered, were accustomed in reading the. Scripture to 
substitute another word, commonly Adonai (Lord), and the vowel 
points placed in the text were those of the substitute, not of the 
original name. The Septuagint inserted the substitute in the text 
itself, and have been followed by our translators, who write Loud 
(in capital letters) where Jehovah occurs in the Hebrew. In this 
way the true sound of the name has been lost. Its meaning appears 
to be given in Exod. iii. 14. In God’s mouth it is I Am, in that of 
his seiwants, He Is. 

2 Gen. xiv. 19, 22. Exod. vi. 3 should probably have been rendered 
as a question, “Was I not known to them?” etc. The name was 
lost in the bondage of Egypt, and again restored as the foundation of 
a true knowledge of God. 

3 Lev. xviii. 2, 4—6, 21, 30. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


113 


and settled in Egypt about the same period. They 
would probably partake of the same moral and reli¬ 
gious habits. All heathen authorities agree that origi¬ 
nally the Egyptians worshipped but one God; even in 
the time of Herodotus, he was spoken of as self-ex¬ 
istent and eternal. Plutarch informs us that some of 
the Thebans refused to pay the idolatrous imposts, on 
the ground that they worshipped only Kneph, the 
Spirit without beginning or end. 1 It is true that 
Kneph or Num appears on the monuments as the 
name of the ram-headed idol of Upper Egypt and 
Nubia; but these expressions prove that it was known 
as an appellation of the Creator, and doubtless wor¬ 
shipped in spirit and in truth, before it came to be 
figured under that mystic, and to us unintelligible, 
symbol. It seems certain, then, that the earliest 
religion in Egypt was monotheistic, and its idolatries 
were corruptions of later growth. 

There are even passages in the inspired volume 
which seem to hint at a special revelation to the sons 
of Ham, anterior to the call of Abraham. Horeb 
would appear to have been known as the “ mountain 
of God,” before it was made the scene of a Divine 
manifestation to Moses, 2 and it seems to be referred 
to by that name in Ezekiel xxviii. 14. The lamenta¬ 
tion there pronounced upon “ the king of Tyrus ” has 
been thought to indicate that the Tyrian nation at 
some earlier and purer stage of their history had 
been favoured with a peculiar presence of God , 
expressed by the “anointed and covering cherub.” 3 

1 De Iside et Osiride, p. 359. 

2 Exod. iii. 1 (Joseph. Antiq. ii. 11). 

3 Instead of “Thou art the anointed cherub,” the Septuagint 
reads, “Thou art with the anointed covering cherub.” 


114 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The cherubim were the well-known attendants on the 
Divine Presence upon the ark, “ covering the mercy- 
seat with their wings;” 1 like it, they were pro¬ 
bably anointed with “the holy anointing oil.” 2 The 
mention also of jewels in the thirteenth verse, which 
are nearly the same with those enumerated in the 
breastplate of the high priest, 3 where they repre¬ 
sented the twelve tribes of the covenanted people, may 
seem to indicate the existence of some authorized 
means of communion with God. Now the Tyrians, 
being Cushites, were nearly allied to the children of 
Mizraim; and it is remarkable that the ark and cherub 
with outstretched wings are found depicted among the 
early religious symbols of Egypt. The families of 
Cush and Mizraim—Palestine, Egypt, and Ethiopia 
( i. e., Arabia )—might keep their religious festivals at 
Horeb, as the children of Israel afterward went up to 
appear before the Lord in Jerusalem. The “ mount of 
God” would thus be the centre of worship to a band 
of kindred nations scattered between Libya and the 
Persian Gulf, till a gradual apostasy vitiated their 
covenant, and another law, another priesthood, and 
another people were chosen out of the families of 
Shem. 4 

Whatever weight may be attached to these specu¬ 
lations, it would certainly appear that the nations 
they refer to are spoken of as having been rejected by 
God when the descendants of Abraham were chosen 
for his people. Tyrus, as profane, is cast out of the 

l Exod. xxv. 20. 2 Exod. xxx. 24, 25. 

3 Exod. xxxix. 10—13. In the Septuagint version the stones are 

identical. 

4 The theory here stated is supported in a paper in the “Journal 
of Sacred Literature” (April, 1860), entitled Sinai, Kadesh, and 
Mount Eor ; reviewed in the Christian Remembrancer, October, 1S60. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


115 


mountain of God, and the covering cherub destroys 
him from the midst of the stones of fire. 1 To Israel 
it is said, “ I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and 
Seba for thee.” 2 The gates of Zion are preferred to 
“ Rahab (Egypt) and Babylon, Philistia and Tyre, 
with Ethiopiaof Zion only shall it be said that 
“ He was born there.” 3 Among the kings that are to 
do homage at Jerusalem, it is said the “ princes shall 
come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her 
hands unto God.” 4 Finally, there is the magnificent 
promise of a day when there shall be again “an altar 
to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a 
pillar at the border thereof to the Lord when “ the 
Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians 
shall know the Lord when “ he shall send them a 
Saviour, and a great one;” when “there shall be a 
highway from Egypt to Assyria,” and“ Israel shall be 
the third with them ;” the meeting point of the three 
races united in one holy nation, “ whom the Lord of 
hosts shall bless, saying, “ Blessed be Egypt my people, 
and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine 
inheritance.” 5 These inspired utterances greatly 
illumine the narrative of Moses, and support the con¬ 
clusion that the one God was still invoked at the 
altars of Egypt when Abraham became the guest of 
Pharaoh. 

Josephus, followed by Eusebius, affirms that many 
discussions ensued between the father of the faithful 
and the Egyptian priests. They were, perhaps, begin- 

1 Ezek. xxviii. 16, Sept, version. 2 Isa. xliii. 3. 

3 Psa. lxxxvii. According to the Jewish arrangement, the first 
verse of this Psalm is a kind of title : “the foundation of the holy 
mountains.” The contents appears to be a comparison of the “ holy 
mounts,” giving the preference to Zion. 

4 Psa. lxviii. 31. 5 Isa - xix - 19 ^ 25 * 


116 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ning to lose sight of the personality of the great Spirit 
whom they adored. This, which has always been the 
first step in the downward path of apostasy, was the 
exact error encountered by the revelation of God’s 
name. Ancient philosophy always believed in a 
supreme Divinity; the evil was that it recognised a 
power rather than a person ever present with his 
creatures. This is the starting point of all idolatry. 
Released from the personal presence of God, the soul 
wanders amid his works without a guide, and makes 
to itself idols. The modern Brahmans, though still 
believing in a Supreme Deity, have lost all notion 
of relations with him, and, like the Epicureans of 
old, teach a system of philosophy which has been 
well styled “ Atheism with a God.” 

Egyptian philosophy was perhaps tottering upon the 
same precipice when Abraham appeared to summon 
back its professors to their allegiance to the Personal, 
Self-existent “ I AM.” Proud of their wisdom, they 
may have profited little from his preaching, and this 
may have been one reason for the shortness of the 
patriarch’s stay. He departed, however, in amity 
and honour, since immediately after he is found to be 
“ very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” 1 He 
carried with him also an Egyptian slave, who after¬ 
wards became the mother of his first-born son. To 
Ishmael, again, his mother took a wife out of Egypt. 
Isaac, indeed, was expressly cautioned against pro¬ 
longing the intercourse. Still there is no mention of 
actual idolatry till Joseph’s time; then the caste 
feeling shows itself in the refusal of the Egyptians 
to eat -with the Hebrews. The scene is altogether 
changed in the days of Moses; Pharaoh scornfully 
1 Gen. xiii. 2. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


117 


repudiates the knowledge of Abraham’s Grod; and 
Moses rejects the alliance of Pharaoh, “ esteeming the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of 
1 The schism was now complete, and we con¬ 
clude that the idolatry which occasioned it had been 
gradually maturing during the four centuries that had 
elapsed since Abraham’s visit. In the same period 
the kindred Amorites, whose iniquity was not before 
full, ripened in like manner for the Divine judg¬ 
ment. 2 

This conclusion seems to derive confirmation from 
the evidence of the earliest Egyptian monuments. In 
looking at the Pyramids, the feature which at once 
distinguishes them from all other works of Egyptian 
art is the entire absence of idolatrous figures or 
inscriptions. The gates, walls, columns, obelisks, 
of the later period, are profusely covered with such 
sculptures; but the Pyramids, presenting so vast a 
surface, are entirely and most significantly plain. 
Neither have the most industrious explorations dis¬ 
covered any other testimony in their interior. The 
Eirst pyramid yields only the founder’s name, with 
the hieroglyphics of KnepJi , which we have seen 
to be the oldest appellation of the Creator. The 
Second pyramid has neither figure nor symbol. In 
the Third is found the epitaph of Mycerinus; but 
this belongs to the age of Nitocris, and perhaps of 
Psamaticus. 

The founders of the two larger pyramids were de¬ 
scribed by the idolatrous priests as tyrants who 
oppressed the people, and shut up the temples of the 
gods lest the religious rites should interfere with their 
labours. Here is a clear indication that no idol 

1 Heb. xi. 25, 26; comp. Exod. v. 2. 2 Gen. xv. 16. 


118 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ceremonies were performed in the 106 years assigned 
to their united reigns. Mycerinus was called a pious 
king, who re-opened the temples and resumed the 
sacrifices: in other words, he introduced a worship 
before unknown. 

That the later idolatry had no connexion with the 
Pyramids, or the age that preceded them, is proved by 
the ignorance of Herodotus and all the Greek writers 
with respect to their object and date. The priests 
knew nothing about them beyond the traditional names 
of their founders. The popular legend ascribed them 
to the shepherd Philition, the great enemy of the 
Egyptian gods. They had clearly no place in the 
religious system of the temples, but were relics of an 
entirely different state of society. They stood, like the 
rude columns of Stonehenge, monuments of a period 
which had passed into oblivion, leaving no succession 
in the history or worship of posterity. 

Another indication in the same direction is the care 
bestowed in constructing the Pyramids with their faces 
towards the four points of the compass. Ho such 
arrangement was known to the Egyptian idolaters,— 
at least, as regards the position of their sacred build¬ 
ings, no two of which are made to face exactly in the 
same direction. 1 In their funeral dispositions the 
icest was the abode of Osiris, and the symbol of 
futurity; but the entrance of the Pyramids was in 
the north , and the sarcophagi are placed north and 
south in the interior. The Osirian rites, again, 
required a funeral lake or stream, of which no trace 
is to be found in the Pyramids. 

Instead, then, of an unbroken succession from 
the reign of Menes, the Pyramids seem to attest an 
1 Wilkinson’s Ancient Egypt, v. 75. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


119 


entire revolution in the religious ideas and worship of 
the Ancient Egyptians. Some indication may even he 
hazarded of the period at which it took place. The 
inclined passages by which the Pyramids were entered 
point to the constellation which contained the north 
pole star 4000 years ago. That this sidereal axis was 
not unobserved by the worshippers of the Most High 
God appears from the language of Job: “ He stretcheth 
out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the 
earth upon nothing.” 1 Other calculations, which we 
shall notice hereafter, bring the reign of Chufu, the 
supposed author of the Great pyramid, to the year 
2350 B. c., which, according to the Septuagint chro¬ 
nology, was about 270 years before the visit of 
Abraham. 

If these slender data could justify any conclusion, we 
might suppose that Chufu himself was a monotheistic 
observer of the heavenly bodies; an opponent of idola¬ 
try, and on that account maligned by the priests of 
Amun and Phthah, yet still beginning to corrupt the 
primitive faith by the speculations of “science, falsely so 
called.” This state of opinion was undoubtedly at one 
time prevalent among the wise men of the east; and 
it is just the condition which Abraham, the possessor of 
a new and personal revelation, might be fitly called 
upon to reprove and enlighten. With such misguided 
men he might reason and exhort, when, against poly¬ 
theists and idolaters, he must, like Moses, have shaken 
off the very dust from his feet. 

The view now suggested may throw light on 
Manetho’s description of this monarch, otherwise con¬ 
tradictory and unintelligible: “ he was a despiser of 
the gods, and wrote a sacred book.” Africanus adds 
l Job xxvi. 7. 


120 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


that he himself, when in Egypt, obtained a copy of this 
hook as a very precious treasure. Eusebius interpo¬ 
lates that the book was written by Suphis “ after his 
conversion;” but this is obviously a device to get rid 
of a difficulty: the odium attaching to his name in the 
time of Herodotus is inconsistent with a conversion 
to idolatry. It has been thought that the word 
should be translated, not a “ despiser,” but a u specu¬ 
lator ” on the gods : l in any case, he was an opponent 
of idolatry, and firmly prohibited its rites. 

The problem may be solved if we suppose, with Dr. 
Shuckford, that Suphis or Chufu was the author of the 
speculative theology which gradually led to the corrup¬ 
tions of idolatry. His book may even have been written 
to refute the folly of representing the Invisible Spirit 
by idols; and yet it may have been so truly the parent 
of an idolatrous theology, as to be laid up among 
the sacred books of the temples when idolatry was 
universal. Such is, in fact, the character of some of 
the sacred writings of the Hindus at the present day. 
The Brahmans boast the purity of their theology, at 
the same time that they find in them the germ and 
justification of the grossest idolatry. 

With so many concurring hints to confirm the con 
elusion that Egypt retained the light of the primaeval 
revelation down, at least, to the period of Abraham’s 
visit, we can have no difficulty in accounting for those 
exalted truths which attracted the admiration of the 
Greek philosophers even in the midst of its idolatries. 
The immortality of the soul, the responsibility of man 
at the tribunal of God, and a righteous judgment 
according to the deeds done in the body, were all 


1 Shuckford’s Connexion of Sacred and Profane History, i. 192. 


the primitive religion. 


121 


parts of tlie original faith; according to onr Saviour’s 
exposition of Exod. iii. 6, they were the groundwork 
of the patriarchal religion. 1 

To the same fountain-head must be attributed the 
resemblances, which have been often pointed out, 
between the institutions of Egypt and of Moses. The 
Hebrew lawgiver did not draw his inspiration from 
the “ wisdom of the Egyptians^” but was enabled to 
re-ascend and drink at its source, in the Divine revela¬ 
tion. “ The idea that the law was an Egyptian in¬ 
vention is one of the worst examples of modern reck¬ 
less criticism.” 2 Ho two systems could be more 
essentially distinct. So far as the Egyptians had 
departed from the primaeval revelation, the institutes 
of Moses stand in direct and stern opposition. The 
Egyptians themselves believed he was actuated by a 
determination to contradict all that they held most 
sacred. The first chapter of Genesis is as plainly 
levelled at their cosmogony, as the first and second 
commandments are at their idolatry. While some 
things were common to the two rites, many more 
were forbidden to the Jews, as if expressly to sever 
between them and the Egyptians. Shaving the head 
and beard, 3 tattooing the body, 4 giving food to the 
dead, 5 planting trees round the altar, 6 witchcraft, 7 — 
all practised in the Egyptian rites,— are specially for¬ 
bidden in the Levitical. On the other hand, the cere¬ 
monies common to both were invested under the 
Mosaic covenant with a meaning wholly unknown to 
the Egyptians. Circumcision was to the children ol 
Abraham the badge of a peculiar covenant. The 
ark, the tabernacle, and the priesthood, however ex- 

1 Matt. xxii. 31. 2 Diet. Bible, 502. 3 Lev. xxi. 5. 4 Lev. xix. 28. 

5 Deut. xxvii. 14. 6 Deut. xvi. 21. 7 Lev. xx. 27. 


122 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ternally alike, were consecrated to uses foreign and 
antagonistic to those of Egypt. They were the wit¬ 
nesses of a Divine presence and government unknown 
to any other age or people. Moses not only de¬ 
nounced future rewards and punishments, hut rested 
his institutions on a present interposition of God, 
which no other legislator ever dared to invoke. This 
bringing near of the Divine presence to a chosen 
people introduced the new feature of a church , w'hich, 
in the general apostasy of human nature, was hence¬ 
forth to preserve and transmit the true idea of God. 

It is a melancholy proof of the fall of man, that 
such repeated renewals of revelation should be needed 
to keep alive in his heart the knowledge and fear 
of his Creator. It is sometimes said that a rational 
being has only to survey the manifest tokens of power, 
wisdom, and goodness in the works of creation, in 
order to be satisfied of the existence and attributes of 
God. Inspiration and revelation are thought super¬ 
fluous, or even injurious, in comparison with this uni¬ 
versal communion with the Almighty, supposed to be 
inseparable from “ reason, conscience, and the religious 
sentiment.” 1 In point of fact, however, experience 
shows that there is no tendency so strong and uni¬ 
versal as the tendency to idolatry. It has subdued 
the “ reason, conscience, and religious sentiment ” of 
every race, and family, and individual not sustained 
by supernatural revelation. The experiment has been 
worked out again and again, and always with one 
result. Idolatry lurks in every man’s heart, and is 
developed by the very power of his intellect: “ Pro¬ 
fessing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” 2 It 


l The Bible and Modern Thought , p. 14. 


2 Korn. i. 22. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


123 


is perhaps reappearing among ourselves in the very 
theories which account it to be irrational and im¬ 
possible. 

The precise method by which the Egyptians fell 
away from the truth cannot now be distinctly traced; 
but the apostle’s definition of idolatry is applicable 
to all its forms: it “ worships and serves the creature 
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” 1 
This degrading sin had its origin in the very con¬ 
templations which ought to make it impossible. “ The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
showeth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” 2 
Such is the voice of reason no less than of revelation; 
it is heard from the philosopher as well as the psalmist. 
Cicero thought it incumbent on a rational mind, how¬ 
ever much it might be confused at the first aspect 
of the world, after noting its regular and equable 
movements,—its government ruling all things with 
fixed laws and a never changing consistency,—to 
recognise the Being within , not only as the Tenant of 
a Divine and heavenly habitation, but also the Euler 
and Governor, yea, as it were, the Architect of the 
great work with all its functions. 3 Yet Cicero was 
himself an idolater, and that as the effect of his 
own rationalizing. He held the notion that the 
universe was animated by the Deity within as a man 
is animated by his soul. This was one of the oldest 

1 Rom. i. 26. 2 Psa. xix - b 2 - 

3 Sic pbilosophi debuerunt, si forte eos primus aspectus mundi 
conturbaverat, postea cum vidissent motus ejus finitos et sequabiles, 
omniaque ratis ordinibus moderata, immutabilique constantia, in- 
^elligere inesse aliquem non solum habitatorem in hac celesti ac 
divina domo, sed etiam, Rectorem et Moderatorem et tanquam Archi- 
tectum tantioperis tantique muneris .”~Be Nat. Deorum, lib. ii. 43. 


124 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


forms of error, and is still a favourite doctrine with 
the Brahman idolaters. By destroying the Divine 
personality, it leads to imagining ourselves parts of 
the Infinite Soul. Hence follows Pantheism, which 
accounts all objects to be more or less manifestations 
of the Divinity, and this at once supplies the theory 
of creature-worship and all kinds of idolatry. 

Other ancient theorists deified the Divine attri¬ 
butes, his perfections, or the laws which he had pre¬ 
scribed to their exercise. Nature, and the powers of 
nature, were deemed living agencies, and adored as 
gods, apart from, though inferior to, the Supreme. 
These speculations lodged themselves in the elements 
or heavenly bodies: to the sun especially, as the god 
of day, Avas assigned a foremost place. His influence 
on the atmosphere and the soil being the apparent 
cause of the earth bringing forth her fruit in due 
season, he was invoked as her husband. Nature, 
too, was a universal parent, at once the mother, con¬ 
sort, and daughter of the sun. These metaphors, 
embellished by the poets with a hundred imaginations, 
were embodied in rites suited only for the worship of 
devils, j Baalpeor was a form of the sun-god, and 
Aslitaroth or Astarte was originally Nature, though 
also identified with the moon and with Venus. The 
oldest form of idolatry which occurs in the Bible is 
“ kissing the hand to the sun when it shineth, and to 
the moon walking in brightness.” 1 The great majority 
of the Egyptian deities also bear a marked reference 
to the sun. The Book of Wisdom exposes the folly 
of those who “deemed either fire, or wind, or the 
swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the violent 
water, or the light of heaven, to be the gods which 
1 Job xxxi. 26, 27. 



THE PEIMITIVE EELIGIOK". 


125 


govern the world.” Yet these opinions were every¬ 
where prevalent, save only within the limited range of 
revelation. Delighted at their beanty, or astounded 
at their power and virtue, they considered not “ how 
much better the Lord of them is.” Though less to 
be blamed, perhaps, than those which called on the 
work of their own hands, “ howbeit, neither are they 
to be pardoned: for if they were able to know so 
much that they could aim at the world, how did they 
not sooner find out the Lord thereof?” 1 

It is no answer to this reproach to say that a 
Supreme Deity was generally recognised. The Brah¬ 
mans acknowledge as much at this day, yet openly 
teach “ that He has nothing to do with the creatures, 
nor the creatures with him.” The deification of his 
operations intercepts the adoration due to himself. 
The worship of the creature is contradictory to that 
of the Creator. It never fails to extend itself from 
intellectual abstractions and the works of God to the 
works of man. The philosophy which pretends to 
adore the Great First Cause in all his manifestations, 
passes from the heavenly bodies to any lower object 
of popular veneration, and finds in it an equally ac¬ 
ceptable medium. Men and animals, mystic signs 
and words, even graven images, become emblems of the 
unseen. The philosopher hugs his theory for a little 
while, despising the common people who ignorantly 
worship the stock and the stone; but as the emblems 
multiply, the explanations become more and more 
obscure. The philosophy decays while the idolatry 
triumphs. Thick darkness overtakes both the teacher 
and the taught, and sad experience comes to verify 
the wise man’s exclamation, “ Miserable are they, and 


126 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


in dead things is their hope, who called them gods 
which are the works of men’s hands.” 

Another prolific source of ancient idolatry was the 
deification of dead men. The soul, which was believed 
to he an emanation of the divinity, might easily he 
imagined to attain increased powers for evil or for 
good after passing into the unseen world. Natural 
affection loved to think it still retained an interest in 
human affairs, and appealed to it by the dear memory 
of former associations. This spontaneous feeling, 
towards those whom death has hut recently sepa¬ 
rated from us, shows itself in the saint-worship of 
modern superstition, as in the hero-worship of the 
ancient. In the earliest ages it often elevated the 
real or traditional head of a people to the rank of a 
god. Some writers find the first origin of all idolatry 
in the worship of Noah and his three sons, “ of whom 
the whole earth was overspread.” 1 

This man-worship was sometimes united with that of 
the heavenly bodies. The departed spirit was located 
in one of the brilliant homes on high, and there con¬ 
founded with its original deity. Thus the same 
legends have been referred to Noah and to the sun; 
and it is often hard to say whether the altar was raised 
to a man, a genius, an idea, or a star. 

These various elements, mingling and multiplying 
in the darkened understanding, render it impossible 
to trace with accuracy the rise and progress of any 
particular system of polytheism. Systems indeed 
they were not: the wisest philosophers were never able 

1 Gen. ix. 19. “ The veneration of the common parent, ruler, and 
instructor still prevails in those countries which have had little 
intercourse with the rest of mankind, andliave lived for ages on the 
same spot in a microcosm of their own.” —Earcourt's Doctrine of the 
Deluge , i. 76. 


THE PRIMITIVE RELIGION. 


127 


to combine and classify the prolific offspring of an 
excited imagination. A variety of rites grew up like 
weeds in their several localities, and spread into others 
without eradicating the previous growth. It was 
not till after a long traditional reception that new 
philosophies arose to weave into system the incon¬ 
gruous offspring of older ones. 

Such is the uniform history of the human mind 
when employed on Divine things without Divine 
revelation. It should moderate the tone of those who 
think by the mere force of reason to “mount from 
nature up to nature’s God ”—who would subject the 
Bible itself to a “verifying faculty” in the fallen 
creature whom it is designed to enlighten and guide. 
If truth be one and error manifold, Revelation attests, 
itself by the sublime unity of its teaching amid the 
intricate diversities of idolatry. It is a gift which un¬ 
assisted reason can neither originate nor preserve. In 
endeavouring to thread the tangled maze of Egyptian 
superstition, let it be borne in mind that the proudest 
intellects have been pilgrims at its ruined shrines; 
and that, if a brighter illumination be enjoyed by 
ourselves, it radiates from the one source of intellectual, 
no less than of moral and spiritual, regeneration,— 
the sun of man’s reason,—the Inspired Volume in 
which God himself says, Let there be light, and 

THERE IS LIGHT. 


128 


CHAPTEB VII. 

THE IDOLS. 

No native System—Greet Parallels—Beal diversity — Manet ho — Herodotus — 
Eight principal Deities—Twelve secondary — Many others—The Nile — The 
Land—Bising Sun—Local Deities—Third Order Universal — Legend of Osiris — 
Supplanted older Forms—Possible Origin and Date — Allegorical — Historical — 
Osiris is Mates and Mizraim—Judge of the Dead — Remarks — Reason inadequate 
—Light of Revelation—Christian Privileges. 

The monuments of the idolatrous period are covered 
with representations of the deities and their wor¬ 
ship ; hut they afford little insight into the nature 
and origin of the conceptions which those figures 
were designed to embody; nor has any native priest 
left us a connected account of -their religious sys¬ 
tem. Our information is chiefly derived from Greek 
and Latin writers, whose leading object was to trace 
in Egypt the origin of their own superstitions. The 
gods, it was said, were bom on the banks of the 
Nile—a tradition which the Egyptian priests took 
care to sustain by stories of their deities travelling 
through the world, and being received under various 
names in different lands. In this way the Greek and 
Eoman divinities were provided with prototypes in 
Egypt, in whom we can now trace but little resemblance. 
Jupiter, Vulcan. Saturn, Pan, Hercules, Mars, Bacchus, 
Apollo, Mercury, Venus, Minerva, Diana, Latona,— 
in short, all the classic gods except Neptune, the 
Nereids, and the Graces,—were believed to have their 
counterparts in the sanctuaries of the Nile. In reality 



THE IDOLS. 


129 


the two religious systems differed as widely as the 
genius and character of the two races. 

To the poetical imagination of the Greeks every god 
was a distinct person, having his own parentage and 
history, with a proper rank in the celestial court, and 
a special office and authority upon earth. The Egyp¬ 
tian, on the other hand, was a philosophical more than 
a poetical system: their deities were not so much 
fictitious personages as intellectual abstractions. With 
the exception of the Osirian legend, they had neither 
history, adventures, nor personal character. Each 
assumed the attributes and offices of another; parents 
changed places with children; even the sexes were 
not immutable. The deified mortal himself lost his 
personality in mounting this dreamy Olympus; the 
historical character disappeared in a cloud of idealism. 

When these two systems came to he collated it was 
easy to mould the phantom gods of Egypt—pale, 
colourless outlines of deity—to the shapes devised by 
the warmer imagination and more practical intellect 

European mythology. The conceptions of the 
Egyptian idolater, however, are not to be measured by 
the creations of the Greek Pantheon. To trace his 
religious views we must abandon the familiar scenes 
of classical mythology for the dream-land of Oriental 
philosophy. 

According to Manetho, “the first god was Vul¬ 
can, represented to be the discoverer of fire; from 
him proceeded the Sun; afterwards Agathodsemon; 
then Saturn; then Osiris; after Osiris his brother 
Typhon ; and last Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis.” 
The earlier priests who conversed with Herodotus 
divided the gods into three orders; 1, eight original, 
among whom were the Greek deities Pan and Leta, 

K 


130 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


or Latona; 2, twelve descended from them, of whom 
Hercules was one; and, 3, a class which included 
Dionusos or Bacchus, who is stated in another place 
to be Osiris. 

A general resemblance may be traced between the 
two traditions ; but all such attempts at classification 
seem to be the work of later ages, when the deities of 
different localities came to be amalgamated into one 
system. The truth was that Upper Egypt had a 
different mythology from Lower, and every nome 
its own principal deity. No arrangement has been 
satisfactorily established from the monuments; and 
we shall content ourselves with enumerating the 
principal idols in what appears to be the most natural 
order. 

1. The oldest name of deity in Egypt, and one still 
found upon the monuments, was Num or Nef, which 
the Greeks wrote Chnubis and KnepTi} It is said to 
signify either spirit or water, 1 2 perhaps in allusion to 
the Spirit of God, who “ in the beginning moved on 
the face of the waters.” He was styled Agatho daemon, 
the Good Grod, and “the Great Potter,” or Creator. 
The earliest writers unanimously speak of him as 
“the Spirit without beginning or end;” and the 
sentiments of the ancient Egyptians on the unity and 
spirituality of the Deity were the admiration of Greek 
philosophers. 3 

In the later idolatry Kneph was the special god of 

1 The iuitial n was pronounced with a nasal breathing which the 
Greeks found it difficult to express. They describe it as “rolling in 
upon itself;” it was perhaps not unlike the kn in modern German 
( [knabe ). The m was expressed in Greek both by b and ph. 

2 From nef, to blow, or nun, water. 

3 Porphyry and others in Eusebius, Praep. Ev. i. 10, and iii. 11. 
Plut. de Iside and Osirid, 359. 


THE IDOLS. 


131 


Upper Egypt, where he was represented in human 
shape, with the head of a ram. He was still considered 
to be the creator of other gods, and is figured at 
Elephantine sitting at a potter’s wheel, fashioning the 
limbs of Osiris, while the god of the Nile is pouring 
water on the clay. The idea seems the same as in 
Job: “ Thine hands have made me and fashioned me 
together round about. Remember, I beseech thee, that 
thou hast made me as the clay.” The apostle also 
adopts the same familiar metaphor: “ Hath not the 
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to 
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dis¬ 
honour P” 1 

The ram’s head was explained to Herodotus by the 
priests of Thebes in the following legend. Hercules, 
being desirous of seeing Jupiter, and persisting in his 
request after many refusals, the god at last clothed 
himself in the fleece and head of a ram, and so revealed 
himself to the sight of his importunate worshipper. 
On this account (adds the historian) the Thebans, 
who do not ordinarily sacrifice rams, which they deem 
sacred, yet once a year, on the feast of Jupiter, slay a 
ram and invest his image with the fleece; after which 
they bring an image of Hercules to meet it. 2 

The primitive truth embodied in this myth might 
possibly be that God is revealed only through faith in 
his appointed sacrifice. 3 It is not improbable that 
some reference may be implied to the sacrifices of Abra¬ 
ham, whose especial privilege it was to see God. We 
find Moses also uttering the prayer, “ I beseech thee 
show me thy glory;” 4 and one of the Beatitudes which 
open our Lord’s sermon on the mount is, “ Blessed are 


1 Job x. 8, 9; Rom. ix. 23. 
3 See Heb. xi. 4. 


2 Herod., ii. 41. 

4 Exod. xxxiii. 18. 


132 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” 1 This 
hope was doubtless present in the offerings of Abel, 
and JSToah, and the patriarchs before the law. It 
will be fully realized in all who, being washed in the 
blood of the “ Lamb of God which taketh away the sin 
of the world,” and made the sons of God now, will 
hereafter be “ like him, and see him as he is.” 2 

2. At Thebes, 
Kneph was super¬ 
seded by a later 
conception entitled 
Amun or Amun-ra, 
king of the gods, 
who was considered 
by the Greeks to 
be equivalent to 
their Zeus or 
Jupiter. He is re¬ 
presented with the 
figure and counte¬ 
nance of a man 
seated on a throne, 
crowned with two 
prodigiously long 
feathers, and bear¬ 
ing the emblems 
of life and stabi¬ 

lity. 3 According 
to Manetho, his name signified “concealed.” The 

1 Matt. v. 8. 2 1 John iii. 2. 

3 The first of these, the cross with a handle (termed the crux 
ansata ), is found in the hand of all the idols, and their common appel¬ 
lation is Giver of life. The staff, which is thought to denote stabi¬ 
lity, is also called a Nilometer, as though intended to gauge the 
inundation. 




















TIIE IDOLS. 


133 


name of Amun is not found earlier than the Twelfth 
Dynasty, when it appears in some of the royal desig¬ 
nations. On many monuments it has clearly been sub¬ 
stituted for some earlier divinity, whose hieroglyphics 
were chiselled out for the purpose. This alteration 
probably took place under the Eighteenth Dynasty, 
when the arms of Thebes were extended over Lower 
Egypt, and its favourite deity was proclaimed king of 
the gods. 1 Erom this deity Thebes was called JNo 
Ammon, and Diospolis or city of Jove, and its Pharaohs - 
were styled sons of Amun. The ram was sacred to him 
as well as to Kneph, and in some temples the two are 
seated side by side. They were commemorated as one, in 
a Latin inscription at Syene, Jovi Hammoni Cenubidi, 
to Jupiter Amun Kneph. 

3. In Lower Egypt the 
supreme deity was Phthah , 
a word which has not been 
traced to any Egyptian ety¬ 
mology, but resembles the 
Hebrew verb to open , loosen , 
or reveal. The later priests 
identified him with the Greek 
Hephaistos (Yulcan) ; but 
beyond being a worker in 
fire, Phthah had little resem¬ 
blance to the lame black¬ 
smith of Lemnos. The 
Memphites adored him as 
the lord and maker of the 

1 The manifest substitution of this name for another, has given 
rise to various hypotheses. Baron Bunsen conjectures that Khem 
was the name erased. Mr. Birch holds that Amun had been 
effaced by the sun-worshippers of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and was 







134 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


universe, fashioning all things by fire. Some repre¬ 
sentations exhibited him as proceeding out of an egg 
which came from the mouth of Kneph. He was 
generally figured as a mummy, swathed in bandages, 
with the head and hands protruding, as if to symbolize 
the’first putting forth of the creative power. At other 
times he has his limbs free, and is forming an egg (the 
symbol of life), on a potter’s wheel. 
A third, and probably later repre¬ 
sentation, is found in great numbers 
in the tombs of Saccara, and called 
Phthah Sokar Osiris. It is a pigmy 
figure, with a bald, disproportioned 
head, covered with a priest’s cap, the 
legs being not unfrequently bowed 
like Vulcan’s. The Memphite Pha¬ 
raohs termed themselves sons of 
Phthah, as those of Thebes re¬ 
joiced in the appellation of children 
of Amun. 

4. Next to Phthah was the great virgin deity 
JVeith, whose name is said to signify “ I came from my¬ 
self;” she was probably an impersonation of Nature. 
Her temple, the largest in Egypt, was at Sais, the kings 
of which called themselves her sons. It was open to 
the sky, and bore an inscription, “ I am all that was, 
and is, and is to be; no mortal has lifted up my veil, 
and the fruit which I brought forth is the sun.” One 
of her titles is the Great Cow,'parent of the sun. 1 She 

restored on their suppression; while Mr. Sharpe seems to postpone 
the sun-worship to the time of the Persians, and conceives that 
Mandu was the deity who then for a time usurped the honours of 
Amun. 

l Birch, Gallery British Museum, 12. 





THE IDOLS. 


135 


is called also Mutli , the universal mother, and queen of 
heaven. 

This goddess wears the red crown of Lower Egypt, 
indicating the proper seat of her worship; but her 
monuments are found in the Upper region also. By 
reversing her hieroglyphic signs, N T {i. e., by reading 
them in the European instead of the Asiatic manner), 
may have been formed Athene , the patron goddess of 
Athens, which city was supposed to have been founded 
from Sais. The owl, her favourite bird, is also found 
upon the coinage of the Delta ; but the virgin mother 
of Egypt seems to have had little else in common with 
the Minerva, who sprang full armed from the brain of 
Jupiter. 

5. The metaphor which represented the prolific 
powers of nature under the image of a female deity, was 
more coarsely expressed in Upper Egypt, by giving a 
consort to the principal gods. Thus there was a 
female Amun, called Ament (“t” being the feminine 
article), who wore the white crown of the Upper 
region, and was styled the enthroned of Thebes, 
mistress of heaven, and ruler of the world. In another 
form Ament bears the name of Maut or Muth , and 
symbolizes the universal parent. Her emblem was 
the vulture, the symbol of maternity, and she was 
perhaps the goddess whom Herodotus calls Latona, the 
mother of Apollo and Diana, i. e ., of the sun and 
moon. 

6. Kneph, too, had his consort Sate (arrow, or sun¬ 
beam), the effluence of an invisible glory. She is 
figured crowned, and bearing the symbol of life, the 
cross, which is common to all the deities. The Greeks 
called her Hera (or Juno), a name more generally 
given to Ament. She is also styled Mother of Darkness. 


136 


ANCIENT EG-YPT. 


7. All idolaters give an important place in their re¬ 
ligious system to the sun , as the most glorious manifes¬ 
tation of the powers of creation and nature. The first 
adoration was paid to the shining orb itself; 1 then a 
deity was imagined as residing in it; and hence arose 
the principal difference in the old idolatrous world. 
The Magians continued to adore the sun itself, and his 
element, fire. The Sabeans worshipped the sun-god 

in the shape of an idol. 
The Egyptian idolatry 
was of the latter kind, and 
all the deities seem in 
some way connected with 
the sun. In his proper 
person the sun was the 
third great deity of Lower 
Egypt. His temple was 
at On, called Heliopolis, 
or the City of the Sun ; 
and his name was Ha, or 
Re, which, with the arti¬ 
cle prefixed, is Phra. He 
was styled the offspring, 
both of Phthah (the god 
of fire) and of Neith. 
Ra was represented in 
human form with the head of a hawk, the most 
sacred of living creatures ; and in paintings his colour 
was red. In the hieroglyphics his symbol is the sun’s 
disk: the bull was his sacred animal. 2 He was 
adored as lord and king of the visible world, 8 whence 

1 Job xxxi. 26. 

2 In a Welsh poem the chiefs are called the bulls and hawks of 
the host.— Doct. Del., 136. 

3 Hence, perhaps, the Latin rex , Italian re } French roi. 










THE IDOLS. 


137 


his name was used, like Baal, Malek, and Adonai 
(names of the sun in other languages), as a designation 
of royalty, both by gods and men. The principal 
deities had it subjoined to their own names (Num-ra, 
Amun-ra), and wore his symbol on their heads. The 
monarch styled himself Si-ra, child of the sun, ex¬ 
pressed in hieroglyphics by the sun’s disk, and the 
goose, the emblem of sonship. The sun is always on 
the royal scutcheon; and the very word for king, 
“owro,” is supposed to be derived from Ba. With the 
article it became Pharaoh , the royal appellation of 
every Egyptian king. 1 The royal asp was for the same 
reason called urceus , and in Greek basilisk. 

8. The sun’s influence was figured in Upper Egypt 
under an image of another kind, which the natives 
called Khem or Cham , and the Greeks Pan. His 
emblem was the goat; but he was never represented 
(like Pan) with the horns and legs of that animal, 
and he held a far higher rank in the Egyptian Pan¬ 
theon. His chief temple was at Mendes (in Central 
Egypt), called Chemmopolis and Panopolis, the city of 
Khem, or Pan. Khem was intended to symbolize the 
power that fertilizes the earth, and bears, in fact, the 
same name with the land of Egypt itself. He may 
be considered the god of the land; perhaps a deifica¬ 
tion of Ham, the patriarch of the race. On the 
monuments he is associated with a bull and other 
agricultural emblems. In the palace of Bameses the 
Great the king is seen adoring him with an oblation 
of ears of corn, cut from the sheaf with a golden sickle. 
He appears to have stood on a par with Amun and 
Kneph. Baron Bunsen thinks that his was the name 
obliterated from the statues to make room for Amun: 

1 Bunsen, ii. 


138 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 





Till AD OF AMUN-RA, AMENT, AND THEIll OFFSPRING CHONSU, 






























THE IDOLS. 


139 


both had the affix of Pa, which has remained un¬ 
touched by the chisel of the innovator. 

These eight divinities may perhaps have constituted 
the “first order” of Herodotus. The second were 
styled their children, and each of the foregoing is 
actually represented on the monuments as a parent of 
other divinities. The usual grouping is a god with his 
consort and their child; the triad being repeated under 
different combinations in different nomes. The rela¬ 
tions of father, mother, and son are not everywhere sus¬ 
tained by the same figures; but the idea of two deities 
producing a third recurs with so much frequency that 
it is thought to have originated the whole mythology. 

This arrangement has been viewed as a distorted 
shadow of the Divine existence in Three Persons: we 
should rather look upon it as a relic of the first hope 
and expectation of fallen man, the Promised Seed. To 
unassisted reason the birth of a god seems incredible, 
yet it is the foundation of all mythc logy; and it is 
certain that such a manifestation of divinity was 
generally expected throughout the G-entile world. In 
Egypt every temple contained a birth-chamber, on the 
walls of which the mystic nativity was actually 
depicted. The goddess mother is seen attended by 
other female deities, and the new-born god is presented 
to the father for a benediction. The continual recur¬ 
rence of this representation under different combina¬ 
tions proves how deep was the impression in which it 
originated. It must certainly imply some wide-spread 
expectation of further revelations through a Divine 
Being to be born into the world. 

If we suppose these derived deities to constitute the 
second order of Herodotus, there is still a difficulty 
in selecting, from the larger numbers on the monu- 




140 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ments, the twelve to whom he referred. The follow¬ 
ing are the names suggested by Bunsen:— 

1. Chonsu, or Chons, the eldest son of Amun and 
Ament, supposed to be the Hercules of Herodotus. 
He was figured in swathings like Phthah, but wearing 
a long lock of hair over the left ear;—a custom 
peculiar to the Egyptian princes and the children of 
the gods. Chons is sometimes represented with the 
head of a hawk upon which is the moon. At 
Ombos, where the crocodile was the popular emblem 
of deity, he appears as the son of Sevek-ra and Athor. 
In the original conception Hercules represented 
the abstract idea of strength (in ancient Egyptian, 
Gom or Chom). He was either the power of the 
deity, or the force of the sun; hence Chonsu is 
called the son both of Amun and of Ee. The sun 
and moon were represented as sailing round the 
world in boats; the one accompanied by Hercules 
(Chons), the other by Mercury (Thoth). 

In some inscriptions Chons is called the “god 
with two names;” and again, “champion of Upper 
Egypt,” and “terrifier of demons.” His temple at 
Karnak contains a singular inscription, in which these 
characters appear as two persons; one of whom sends 
the other on an expedition to a foreign country, 
in order to deliver the princess from the power of a 
demon. 1 This early connexion of a lunar deity with 
a possession by evil spirits is very remarkable. The 
ape or cynocephalus was sacred to Chons, and was 
kept in the temple as his living'representative. 

2. Thoth or Taut, son of Kneph, and god of the 
moon, whose emblem was the Ibis;—a bird which, from 

1 See a paper by Sam. Birch, Esq., in the Transactions of Royal 
Society of Literature, vol. iv. N. S. 


THE IDOLS. 


141 


destroying venomous reptiles, attracted the respect 
elsewhere paid to the stork. Its black and white 
feathers were thought to symbolize the moon’s gib¬ 
bosity. 1 Its legs, when walking, were observed to 
form an equilateral triangle; and in this position, 
standing on a perch, it was the hieroglyphic of 
the god’s name. Thoth is usually represented as a 
human figure, with the head of an ibis, holding a 
tablet or roll of papyrus in his hand, as scribe of 



the gods. As the moon god, lie has a man’s face, 
with the crescent or disk of the moon on his fore¬ 
head. Thoth, being the god of letters, was believed to 
officiate as scribe of the lower regions where the 
dead were judged. His various important functions 

l This term is applied by astronomers to the appearance of the 
moon when moving in opposition to the sun ; the illumined part is 
then convex or qibbous. 









142 


ANCIE1STT EGYPT 




TRIAD OF SEVER-It A, ATHOlt, AND CHONS AS THEIR OFFSPRING, WORSHIPPED AT OMKOS. 













































t 


THE IDOLS. 143 

made liim the most considerable divinity of the second 
class. He was the first Hermes of Manetho; the 
preceptor of Isis, the inventor of letters, astronomy, 
harmony, and sacred worship. He invented the lyre, 
fitted with three strings after the three Egyptian 
seasons, and was the patron of elocution ; whence he 
was called the interpreter. In these respects he answers 
to Mercury, the messenger of the gods to men, hut 
was really, perhaps, a deification of the intellect , divine 
or human. His consort, Saf, was called “ mistress of 
the writings and president of letters.” 

The temple of Thoth was at Hermopolis, where he 
was styled lord of the Upper Eegion. Like Chons, he was 
represented by the cynocephalus , or dog-faced baboon. 
A second Hermes, called Trismegistus or thrice great, 
worshipped at Pselcis (Dakkeh) inNubia, was probably 
an emanation of Thoth, though some say he was a 
priest and philosopher who lived a little after Moses, 
and wrote the sacred hooks popularly ascribed to the 
god of letters. He was represented with a staff, 
having a snake twined round it, like Mercury’s 
Caduceus . Thoth was in all probability the same with 
Athothis , the son of Menes, whom Eratosthenes calls 
Hermogenes. 

3. Atmu (Thothmoo, Tmou), son of Phthah, and 
one of the principal deities of the second order. 
Though principally worshipped in Lower Egypt, 
he is conspicuous on the temples of Thebes; and 
the paintings in the tombs represent him in com¬ 
pany with Thoth, among the gods of the dead. 
Another Atmoo, with the prefix JVofre (the good), 
appears to he a variety or “ emanation ” of the same 
conception. 

4. Pecht, or Pasht, the goddess of Euhastis, called 


144 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


the beloved of Phthah and lady 
of Memphis. Her most ancient 
form had the head of a lioness 
crowned, as a daughter of the 
sun, with the disk and urseus. 
She was also represented with 
a human face like Athor, and 
is thought by some to be a form 
of Neith. The Greeks conceived 
herto be their Artemis or Diana. 
Her statues in black syenite are 
very numerous. 

5. Athor (Het-her),& daughter 
of Ba, called the eye of the sun, 
whose symbol was the white 
cow. She is ordinarily repre¬ 
sented with the cow’s horns, wearing a disk between 
them. 1 This did not prevent the Greeks from 
identifying her with Aphrodite or Venus. She was 
the lady of dance and mirth, the patron goddess 
of queens and of women generally. Like Venus, 
she is represented as the wife of several deities. At 
Philae she was the consort of Kneph, at Ombos of 
Sevek-ra, at Edfu of Har-hat, and at Karnak of Phthah. 
In her own temple at Denderah she appears as the 
wife of Horus. Some authorities make her to be 
another form of Neith, the universal parent. Temples 
were dedicated to her in all parts of Egypt. Like 
other female deities, she was afterwards confounded 
with Isis, and is represented in her temple at Philae 
as suckling the son of Osiris and Isis, with the title of 

1 The crescent formed by the horns of the cow was an emblem of 
the moon, or, according to the learned author of the “Doctrine of the 
Deluge” (i. 145), of the Ark of Noah. 












THE IDOLS. 145 

“ Nurse-wife, who fills heaven and earth with her 
beneficent acts.” 1 

6. Man, or Mui, a son of Ea, signifying light. His 
emblem is the ostrich feather, typical of justice or 
truth, because the feathers of this bird were supposed 
to be all equal. He stands behind the throne of Atmu, 
and was called j En-pe, the leader of heaven. His images 
are made of porcelain. He is sometimes found with a 
bull’s head, and hands uplifted in prayer or benediction. 

7. Ma, or Thmei , whence the Greek Themis , the 
goddess of truth and justice, a daughter of Ea, adorned, 
like the last, with the ostrich feather. She is called 
the goddess of Lower Egypt, and is represented both 
with and without wings. Her image is often seen in 
the hands of the kings, who present it as a fit offering 
to the gods: “ beloved of truth,” is frequently adopted 
as a regal title. The chief judge, when presiding at 
trials, had a figure of this goddess suspended from his 
neck, with her eyes closed; with this he touched the 
successful party, in token that right was on his side, 
A similar emblem was used by the high priest of the 
Jews; and the word Thummim (signifying the “ two 
truths ”) exactly corresponds to the twofold character 
of truth and justice ascribed to the Egyptian Thmei. 
She was accounted the great cardinal virtue on earth: 
and at the final judgment, the souls which were justi¬ 
fied carry the ostrich feather, which was her emblem. 
On this account her hieroglyphic signified a “justi¬ 
fied”—in common parlance, a “deceased”—person. 

8. Tefnu , also a daughter of Ea, a goddess with the 

1 This representation is perhaps connected with the name of the 
island,^ or phil, being the Ethiopian word for a son (compare the 
Latin filius). Elephantine, though so different in our mode of 
spelling, is the same word with the consonants reversed, L p h 
instead of p h l 


L 


146 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


cat’s or lioness’s head, like Pecht. She often appears 
on the monuments as the consort of Chonsu, who is 
sometimes lionheaded. 

9. Mntu , Muntu , or Mandu, a son of Ea, hawk¬ 
headed, like his father. His colour is red, like 
the sun’s. His titles designate him as the Ares, 
or Mars, of the Egyptians. He is the principal figure 
in the triad at Hermonthis. His temple was at 
Mendes, one of the mouths of the Nile, and the seat 
of one of the last dynasties of native Pharaohs. 
During their ascendancy he was proclaimed king of 
gods, usurping the place of Amun-ra on some of the 
monuments at Thebes itself. 

10. SebaJc, SeveTc , or 
SevJc, the Crocodile-headed 
deity of Ombos, another 
deified form of the sun, 
often bearing the affix, Ha. 
He wears the ram’s horns 
also as one of the deities 
of Thebes : sometimes, 
though rarely, he ap¬ 
pears with the ram’s head 
and asp of Kneph. The 
crocodile, his sacred ani¬ 
mal, was venerated at 
Ombos and some other 
towns in the Thebaid: at 
others it was held in the 
utmost abhorrence. Seri¬ 
ous conflicts often ensued 
between these rival sects; Juvenal even charges 
the Tentyrites with eating the flesh of one of their 
adversaries. 1 



1 Juv. Sat. xv. 80. 


















THE IDOLS. 


147 


11. Seb, the Greek Chronos, or Saturn, is by some 
considered the same as Sevek. He was called both 
the youngest of the divinities and the father of the 
gods. 

12. Nutpe, or Netpe, daughter to the sun, wife of 
Seb, and mother of Osiris. She was called the mother 
of the gods, and figured as pouring the water of life 
from a sycamore tree on the souls of men. In one 
form she personifies the abyss of heaven, represented 
as a female figure stretched across the etherial vault, 
with her arms and legs enclosing the earth. She was 
thought to be the Ehea of the Greeks. 

Many other deities are found in different triads, 
some of which, perhaps, represent similar or but 
slightly varied conceptions to the foregoing; and 
others may be thought more important. One of these, 
Anuk, appears with Kneph and Sate at the cataracts, 
as the nurse of their progeny. According to Sir 
Gardner Wilkinson, she is the Yesta of the Egyptian 
Pantheon. A very similar yet different goddess was 
worshipped at the city of Eilethyias, in the character 
of Lucina. She bore the name of Seneb or Soven. 

A deity of still higher rank was the river god Nilus, 
called Sapi Mou , “ the genius of the water.” He was 
figured as a fat man of a blue colour, with water plants 
growing on his head. The colour, perhaps, denotes the 
origin of the name Nile, which in many Eastern lan¬ 
guages still signifies blue. The term was used of large 
rivers and mountains,which often appear of that colour. 
The river god is represented binding the thrones of 
the Pharaohs with the lotus and papyrus of the Upper 
and Lower Nile. In this office he is assisted by 
Thoth. At Luxor are two figures of this idol, one 
blue and the other red; the latter perhaps, intended 



143 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


to represent tlie colour of the water during the inun¬ 
dation. At Silsilis he is figured in a triad as the 
offspring of He and Phthah. At Philae he sits beneath 
the cataracts, pouring water from ajar in each hand. 
His great temple was at Nilopolis ; but in every city 
on his banks there were priests specially appointed 
to his service. A corpse, even of a foreigner, if found 
in the river, was to be embalmed in the neighbouring 
town, and deposited in the sacred sepulchre: the 
priests of the Nile would allow no one to touch it but 
themselves, and they buried it with their own hands, 
as something more than human. 1 

As the river had its genius,so also the land: “ Khemi ,” 
the “ pure land,” was personified with the emblem of 
purity on her head, and armed with a battle-axe, a 
bow, and arrows ; in some degree resembling one of 
the forms of Neitli. The several cities, again, boasted 
their patron deities. Thaba was honoured at Thebes, 
Tentore at Tentyris; and a sun, supported by two 
asps with outspread wings, was everywhere figured over 
doors and windows as the tutelary genius of the spot. 
This emblem was called Harhat and Agathodcemon. 
Mr. Birch understands it to mean the “ Morning Sun,’’ 
supposing it to be in the mind of the prophet when 
uttering the glorious prediction of a Sun of righteous¬ 
ness to arise with healing in his wings. 2 

In short, there was not a spot of ground nor a 
moment of time left unconsecrated by some fanciful 
superstition. “ Every day in the year was dedicated 
to a god, and every sign and subdivision of the 
zodiac had its own genius.” 3 The very hours were 
regarded as divinities, each under the care of some 
fraction of the Infinite Essence. They are introduced 
1 Herod, ii. 90. 2 Mai. iv. 2. 3 Kenrick, i. 430. 


THE IDOLS. 


149 


in the tombs, where the deceased seems to be review¬ 
ing his lost time, and making offering to the hours in 
succession from the first to the twelfth. Singularly 
enough, the hieroglyphic name for these objects of 
worship is Now, which has the same meaning in 
Coptic as in English. As if it were meant to signify 
that no time is open to religion but the present — 
that “now is the accepted time, now is the day of sal¬ 
vation.” 1 

It is not to he supposed, however, that all these idols 
were equally or universally objects of adoration. The 
very number of the divinities would prevent their being 
known to every worshipper. It was easier, said the 
Greeks, to find a god than a man on the banks of the 
Nile. Every nome had its own deities and temple 
ritual; the common people, like the natives of India 
at this day, probably had their domestic and village 
superstitions, more influential than the temple worship 
With respect to the gods of the first and second 
orders, Herodotus expressly says they were not every¬ 
where worshipped alike. It was the third order 
alone which attained to a national recognition and a 
common rite. These they all worshipped in a similar 
manner. 2 

This order consisted of Osiris and the deities be¬ 
longing to his circle. They are the only Egyptian gods, 
who appealed to popular sympathies with a mytho¬ 
logical legend like the Greek. The story was that 
Nupte (whom the classic writers call Ehea) had five 
children on five successive days: Osiris, Aroeris, 
Typhon, Isis , and Nephthys. They were born on the 

1 A similar coincidence is found in the word week, called in the 

Egyptian uk. ’ 

2 Herod, ii. 42. 


150 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


five intercalary days, added to the 360 of which the 
year originally consisted. Osiris became the husband 
of Isis, and their offspring was the younger Horns; 
Typhon married Nephthys, and their son was 
Anubis. 

Osiris, it is said, ascended the throne of Egypt, and 
after civilizing his subjects, and teaching them agri¬ 
culture, departed on a tour through the world, accom¬ 
panied by his brother Apollo, Anubis, and Pan. 1 His 
kingdom was left to the regency of Isis, assisted by 
Hermes (Thoth) as minister, and by Hercules in 
command of the army. Osiris passed through Ethiopia 
(where he collected a troop of satyrs)? and thence by 
Arabia into Asia, and afterwards into Europe, every¬ 
where diffusing the worship of the gods, and the 
knowledge of the Supreme Being. 

During his absence his brother Typhon raised a 
sedition, and on the return of Osiris murdered him in 
a secret apartment. He then cut the corpse in pieces, 
and distributed it among his accomplices. Another 
account makes the body to have been enclosed in a 
chest and thrown into the Nile, which conveyed 
it to the sea, where it was cast on the coast of 
Phenicia, and the mutilation was there effected by 
Typhon. 

Isis receiving the sad intelligence at Coptos, cut off 
her hair and put on mourning. Then raising an army, 
she vanquished the conspirators, and recovered the 
mangled remains of her husband, which she enclosed 
in images, and distributed to all the temples. 

1 These names are obviously inserted to favour the notion of all 
the Greek deities having come out of Egypt. 

2 Similar is the legend of the Hindu Rama, •who penetrated the 
Deccan or south country in his expedition to Ceylon, and collected 
an army of monkeys. 


THE IDOLS. 


151 



Being tlie author of 
agriculture, the ox was 
selected as his sacred 
animal; Isis being added 
to the deities at her 
death, the cow became 
her appropriate emblem. 

Anubis, who assisted 
in the search for Osiris> 
was made an attendant 
genius, and is repre¬ 
sented with the head of a 
jackal, which the Greeks 
mistook for a dog. Typhon 
was condemned to per- 
petual abomination, as the spirit of evil, in the 
shapes of an ass and a hippopotamus. Horus (or 
Harpocrates), the son of Osiris and Isis, succeeded 
to the throne, being the last god that reigned in 
Egypt. He also, according to some accounts, was pre¬ 
maturely cut to pieces. 

Here was a myth, affording abundant scope for the 
piety, the patriotism, and the personal sympathies of 
the people. On the face of it, it described the deeds 
and sufferings of a primitive monarch, one of those 
whom the Gentiles loved to call “ benefactors l —the 
boast of the nation, and a martyr in its cause. The 
popular ballads identified him with Menes the founder 
of the first monarchy, who was torn to pieces by a 
hippopotamus; they joined with affectionate solicitude 
in the sorrowful quest of the widowed queen, and 
were never wearied of the annual rejoicing to com¬ 
memorate the day when Osiris was found. 

1 Luke xxii. 25. 






152 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Conceptions of this kind mingling with the elder 
mythologies naturally overpowered their weak and pas¬ 
sionless abstractions. With the exception of Amun 
and EAeph, the gods of the first and second orders 
seem all to have passed into the Osirian group, and 
been supplanted by it. Osiris is figured as Phthah 
and as Khem, Isis as Neith, and Athor as Muth 
(the mother). They were called the “ great god and 
goddess of Egypt;” their son Horus assumed the 
hawk’s head of Ra, the sun. Nutpe is the mother 
both of Isis and Osiris. In effect, while the older 
forms were honoured with an occasional rite, Isis and 
Osiris were emphatically—to foreigners almost ex¬ 
clusively—the objects of Egyptian worship. Their 
rites exercised a powerful influence not only over the 
native mind, but on the robuster intellects of Greece 
and Rome. 1 The mysteries of Isis became a tale of 
wonder throughout the civilized world. They gained 
admittance, in spite of repeated prohibitions, into 
imperial Rome; the legions carried her shrine to 
distant Britain, and planted it outside their encamp¬ 
ments in every quarter of the empire. 2 

The origin of this remarkable form of idolatry is 
not of course to be looked for in a literal acceptance of 
the legend that attended it. Such myths are usually 
framed to account for a worship already existing, the 
true origin of which is unknown or perverted. Some 
idea, however, of its date may be gathered from the 
birth of the five deities being fixed to the intercalary 
days, which were said to have been won from the moon 

1 See Juv. Sat. xii. 28. 

2 A temple to Serapis, the later form of Osiris, stood near the 
ancient Eboracum, on a site now covered by the York Railway 
Station. No foreign idols were admitted within the Roman encamp¬ 
ments. 


THE IDOLS. 


153 


by Mercury for that purpose. This can only refer to the 
discovery of the true length of the year, which was 
originally reckoned at twelve months of thirty days 
each. In Egypt every day had its tutelary deity, con¬ 
sequently when five new days were added they required 
five additional gods. The date of this addition to 
Egyptian science is uncertain. Manetho attributes it 
to one of the shepherd kings, though Lepsius fancies 
he has discovered a reference “ to the festival of the 
five redundant days” in the grotto of Beni Hassan, of 
the date of the Twelfth (or first Theban) Dynasty. 

It is not improbable that the addition was 
coeval with that of five new stars, which the spirits 
of the deified mortals were supposed to inhabit. 
The Dog Star (Sothis) was certainly consecrated 
to Isis, and Osiris has many attributes in common 
with the sun. Sothis was called “the star of the 
beginning of the year,” from its rising at the com¬ 
mencement of the inundation; and the heliacal rising 
of this star 1 on the first day of Thoth was the begin¬ 
ning of the Sothiac period. This conjunction was, 
perhaps, symbolized in the marriage of Osiris and Isis. 
Its first appearance on the monuments is said to be 
b.c. 1322, and shortly after Seth, who had previously 
been worshipped as a beneficent god, was deprived of 
his honours, effaced from the monuments, and stigma¬ 
tized as Typhon, the murderer of Osiris. This evi¬ 
dence is, perhaps, too slight to justify the fixing on 
this date as the commencement of the Osirian theo¬ 
logy, though some writers conceive it to have been 
long subsequent to the time of Moses. 2 

1 The heliacal rising of a star is properly when it rises in conjunc¬ 
tion with the sun; but as it is then of course invisible, it was reckoned 
from the time when it was first descried by the eye. 

2 Shuckford’s Connection, book viii. and xi. 


154 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Others dismiss the historical character of the legend 
altogether. They observe that the rites connected with 
Osiris closely resembled those of Adonis at Byblos in 
Phenicia, being the same which were practised by the 
women seen in the prophet’s vision “weeping for 
Tammuz.” 1 They were part of the worship of Baal 
(the sun), who had a temple at Byblos, where, accord¬ 
ing to one account, Osiris was found. On this view 
he is the sun bound and imprisoned by Typhon, the 
power of darkness, during the winter season. It was 
in November that Osiris disappeared from his sorrow¬ 
ing consort. The voyage of Isis, whom Herodotus 
calls Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, in quest of his 
remains, was in December. In February he is found, 
and returns to fertilize the earth. Horus, horn after 
his father’s death, and lame in the feet, is the sun, 
weak hut beginning to recover his power, at the winter 
solstice. Another allegory makes Osiris the Nile, 
whose waters recede at the same season with the sun; 
and Typhon the wind, which robs the fields of the 
precious moisture. 

There was never any lack of such explanations 
among ancient idolaters; hut the popular view was 
probably correct, when it insisted on the substantially 
historical reality of the objects of their adoration. In 
all probability Osiris was Menes, whom all tradition 
affirmed to be the first king of Egypt; and his son 
Athothis, or Thoth, was the Hermes who remained 
with Isis during her husband’s absence. Osiris, whose 
name may be translated Throne creator , was also the 
first king, and Menes is sometimes written Mnevis, 
the appellation of the sacred bull of Heliopolis, who 
was undoubtedly a representative of Osiris. Hero- 
1 Ezek. viii. 14 . 


THE IDOLS. 


155 


dotus mentions a remarkable ballad, sung among the 
Egyptians from the earliest days, called Maneros . It 
lamented the only son of the first king of Egypt, a 
pupil of the Muses, who died a minor. According to 
Plutarch, Maneros was the son of Isis and Osiris, and 
was accidentally killed by his mother; he was there¬ 
fore the same as Horus, the child-god. Jablouski 
contends that Maneros means “ son of Menes,” which 
again identifies Menes with Osiris, and Athothis 
with Horus. 1 This appears the most probable expla¬ 
nation of the several traditions. Osiris and Horus 
were the last of the gods who reigned in Egypt; 
and Menes and Athothis were the first, and best re¬ 
membered, of mortal kings. Menes is called a Thinite, 
and This was the city of Osiris; he was torn to pieces 
by a hippopotamus, and this creature was the emblem 
of Typhon, who cut Osiris in pieces. Lastly, the 
name Menes is translated by Eratosthenes, “eternal,” 2 
an appellation which seems to point to Osiris, and 
possibly to Mizraim, the original founder of the 
Egyptian nation. 

The special function of Osiris, as judge of the 
dead, was ascribed by many other nations to the patri¬ 
arch of their race. “ To be gathered to one’s people,” 
is one of the earliest forms of expression for death, 3 and 
it was not unnatural to invest the first ancestor with 
the prerogative of judging his children, and assigning 

1 In like manner the Germans celebrated Tuisco, the genius of 
the earth, and his son Man, the parent stock of mankind. They 
invoked him as “ Thoit! Mann! Woden ! (Baith and Herman ,” ap. 
Doct. Del.) 

2 That is to say, if we are to adopt what Bunsen calls the “happy 
emendations” of aionios for dionios, the word found in Syncellus; 
but dionios might be quite as happily emendated into dionusos, i.e. 
Osiris. 

3 Gen. xxv. 8. 


156 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


them their places in the paternal halls. The senti¬ 
ment is traced, under a purer form of religion, in the 
established phrase of the Hebrews, whose hope was to 
“ sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the 
kingdom of heaven.” In like manner Osiris may have 
been Mizraim, the founder of the Egyptian people;— 
the sun of their race, the parent of their rulers, and 
the judge of their disembodied spirits. 

This last is the character most prominently assigned 
to Osiris on the monuments; it appealed with equal 
force to the philosopher and the peasant. He sits, 
like the Pluto of classic mythology, as president and 
lord of Amenthe, the invisible world. He is repre¬ 
sented with the whip or flail, which formed part of 
the insignia of an Egyptian king, in one hand, and a 
hook in the other. His cap is of a peculiar shape, 
resembling the crown of Upper Egypt. His lower 
limbs are swathed, as one that is hidden in the grave, 
and he is attended by the sisters Isis and Nephthys 
(said to symbolize the past and the future), and the 
four genii his offspring. He is enthroned amid the 
forty-two assessors, who hold the last great inquest, 
and pronounces the irreversible sentence. Hence the 
common appellation of deceased persons in the 
epitaphs is “ Osman,* * equivalent to the Scriptural 
expression, “ gathered to his fathers,” and our own 
phrase, “ of pious memory.” 

Such were the idols of Egypt! believed in their day 
to embody the profoundest conceptions of the human 
intellect, and visited by the master minds of the 
earth, in search of a knowledge that called itself 
divine. In the temples dedicated to their worship, 
and profusely sculptured with their images, Pytha¬ 
goras and Plato sought to penetrate into the secret 


THE IDOLS. 


157 


depths of wisdom. There they meditated on the 
Great First Cause, and the mysteries of faith and 
worship that might he shrouded under the figures of 
Amun and Kneph. The primeval revelation of a 
Supreme Being never wholly perished out of the 
educated mind, even when overlaid with polytheism 
and idolatry. The great struggle of the inquiring 
soul was still to “ find out God,” 1 hut its searchings 
were in vain: reason could never repair the ravages 
of sin. “ He made darkness his secret place, his 
pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick 
clouds of the skies,” 2 till the light of Bevelation col¬ 
lected again the Divine attributes into the Divine 
Person, and one who had searched all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians, and found it foolishness, was permitted to 
utter that great voice of inspiration, “ In the beginning 
God created the heavens and the earth” Those sim¬ 
ple hut majestic words rose like another sun on the 
wanderings of the benighted intellect; they shine on the 
front of the elder revelation, like the parallel sentence } 
“ The Word was made flesh” in the New. The modern 
peasant receiving these two great principles for his 
creed, and approaching the throne of grace with the 
trustful prayer, “ Our Father which is in heaven,” 
inherits a secret beyond the reach of all the mysteries 
of antiquity. When Thales, who visited Egypt and 
studied its theology six hundred years before Christ, 
was asked, “What is God?” he demanded a day to 
consider of his answer. At the expiration of the time he 
asked for two days, then for four—eight—sixteen; each 
time doubling the period for his reply. Finally, he 
avowed, that the longer he thought of the question, the 
more impossible he found it rightly to conceive, or 
1 Job xi. 7. 2 Psa. xviii. 11. 


158 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


adequately to declare, God. On which celebrated 
answer Tertullian remarks that “ every Christian me¬ 
chanic both knows God himself and can show him to 
others.” 1 God is now manifested in Cheist. He only 
is “ the brightness of his glory, and the express image 
of his person.” 2 In knowing Christ and him crucified, 
the poorest believer and youngest child enjoys a 
possession far above all the boasted wisdom of Egypt. 
In our Sunday schools, 

“ Each little child in turn 

Some glorious truth proclaims, 

What sages would have died to learn, 

Now taught by village dames.” 3 

l Tert. Lib. Apolog., xlvi. 2 Heb. i. 3. 

3 Christian Year. 



MTJNTU OR MANDU 

(God of War). 











159 


CHAPTEE VIII. 

THE TEMPLE WOKSHIP. 

Primeval Hite of Sacrifice—Temples originated in Egypt—Earliest style—Larger 
Temples—Dromos—Pylon—Pteron—Courts—Sanctuary—Sacred Object-Sculp¬ 
tures —Animals—Priesthood — Caste—Vestments—Wigs—Food—Gradations 
—Science—Astronomy—Length of the Year—Weeks—Divination—Sacrifices— 
Formerly Human—Vicarious—Propitiatory—Feast of Reconciliation—Animal 
Offerings—Music—Unbloody Gifts—Incense—Scriptural use—Worship of Ani¬ 
mals—Bull—Cow—Cat—Mouse—Ibis—Hawk—Dog—Snakes—Great Serpent- 

Crocodile — Ichneumon — Lion — Hippopotamus — Ass—Goat — Sheep — Pig—Fish 

—Insects—Plants—Theory of Creature-worship—Pantheism—Transmigration— 

Panegyries — Female Deities — Sais—Right of access — Processions — Bari — 
Mourning for Osiris—Effects. 

No religion can exist long without some authorized 
form of expression;—without a sacred rite to utter the 
homage of the soul, and to assure it of acceptance with 
God. The earliest rite of this description was Sacrifice; 
and the apostle, in affirming that “ by faith Abel offered 
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” 
plainly implies that a lamb was from the first the 
offering divinely required. Similar were the sacrifices 
of Noah and of Abraham. They would require an 
altar for the immolation of the victim, and its con¬ 
sumption by fire; but the altar was reared in the 
open air, and originally in any place which private 
devotion might dictate. It is obvious, however, that 
when many persons were to gather to common sacri¬ 
fices, some special sites would be agreed upon, conse¬ 
crated, perhaps, by the memory of a special mercy. 
Such would be the spot where Noah raised his first 
altar on the regenerated earth, in imitation of which, 
possibly, hills or “ high places ” were ever after the 
favourite resort for religious services. Such was 


160 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Mount Moriah, where Abraham, by Grod’s command, 
initiated the typical sacrifices of the law; and such 
was the sanctuary at the foot of which he received 
the blessing of Melchizedek, and offered tithes of all 
that he possessed. 1 

These places of worship were under the open sky, 
shadowed with trees it may be, as in the garden 
of Eden, but having no “temple made with hands,’ 
no roof to interpose between earth and heaven, no 
walls to circumscribe the sanctuary or limit the 
approach to it. It is probable that temples originated 
in Egypt, where there were no “ high places,” and 
where it was pretended that the gods were the first 
kings. The titles of majesty continued to be given 
to the idols, as those of divinity were to the sovereign. 
Temples and palaces were contiguous, and the same 
ideas prevailed in the construction of both. Several 
of the temples now in ruins were erected under the 
Ptolemies, but they were restorations of earlier edifices, 
dedicated to the same deities, which had been destroyed 
by the Persians. No trace of any temple, indeed, exists 
before the Eighteenth Dynasty, but Amun was wor¬ 
shipped at Thebes from an earlier period, and may 
perhaps have had a temple there. 

The first buildings of this description were doubtless 
very different from the stately structures of later days. 
Egypt being destitute of timber, its temples were 
constructed of stone, and in a massive style, widely 
different from the tapering shafts and glowing tracery 
which our Grothic artists copied from the interlacing 
boughs of the forest. The only models furnished by 
nature on the banks of the Nile, were the square 
masses of rock which overhang the cataracts, and 


AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE 


THE TEMPLE 


WO It SHIP. 


161 



M 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































162 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


which not unfrequently exhibit the same outline as 
the earliest architecture. The walls were of prodigious 
thickness, perpendicular within, but on the outer face 
sloping in imitation of the pyramids. The sides of 
the doors and windows inclined in the same direction, 
all converging towards a distant apex. This is also 
the dominant feature of the obelisk, the successor of 
the pyramid. 

Snow being unknown, the temple roofs were flat; a 
deep cornice, projecting to an eighth or ninth of the 
elevation, forming the chief architectural feature. 
Columns were used for its support, of great height and 
solidity, and sometimes slightly fluted; but they were 
too crowded to produce the grand interior effect of 
our fine cathedrals. Their summits were adorned 
with imitations of the lotus and papyrus flowers, in 
which some would trace the origin of the elegant 
Corinthian capital. The walls were occasionally faced 
with rows of Osiride pilasters, that is, colossal figures 
of Osiris, standing like the Greek Caryatides, but with¬ 
out any superincumbent weight. The scale and mas¬ 
siveness of the architecture imparted an air of severe 
but majestic repose, the effect of which was never 
equalled in any other country. The simplest forms 
were those called Typhonean, of which an example is 
seen in the island of Philae; they were simply rec¬ 
tangular buildings surrounded by columns, with an 
entrance in one of the ends. 

The larger temples are minutely described by Strabo 
the geographer, who visited Egypt about the opening 
of the Christian era, and his account is confirmed by 
the ruins still remaining. The approach was by a 
dromos , or avenue, lined by sphinxes or rams : obelisks 
or colossal figures in attitudes of profound repose, and 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


163 


with grave, serious aspect, flanked the entrance to the 
avenue; it terminated in a lofty gateway {pylon), 
guarded on each side by a pyramidal wing or lodge 
{pteron) containing the rooms of the priests. These 
lodges were sometimes so large as to resemble 
truncated pyramids. Over the gateway was the 
Horhat or emblem of the good genius. Beneath this 
guardian symbol the worshipper passed into a spacious 
court surrounded by colonnades. On the opposite 
side another gateway led into a second court, where 
was a large hall, the roof of which was supported by a 
crowd of gigantic columns, forming the place of 
assembly for the worshippers at the great festivals. 
The sanctuary proper was separated by another court : 
its portico was usually a walled vestibule without 
colonnades, and it was divided into two or three apart¬ 
ments ; in the last, behind a curtain, was the sacred 
object of all the devotion. Strabo notices that this 
was not an idol , that is, not a figure in human form, 
but commonly the representation of some animal, the 
emblem of the god, or even the living animal itself. 

To increase the apparent distance and secrecy of 
the shrine, the doorways were diminished one after 
another, giving the effect of a lengthened perspective. 
The entire building inside and out, walls, pillars, ceil¬ 
ing, and doors, were profusely covered with hierogly¬ 
phics, reliefs, and paintings, often brightly coloured, 
and leaving scarcely a foot of space unoccupied. The 
sculptures do not project beyond the surface so as to 
break the outline, but were produced by cutting out 
the wall round the intended figure, which thus appears 
to rise from a hollow previously sunk: the colours 
were laid on the sunken part of the intaglio, to 
prevent their being too prominent. They consist 


164 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of numerous inscriptions, with figures of the gods, 
kings, battles, processions, and sacrifices. A separate 
smaller building held the birth-chamber of the infant 
divinity. Numbers of sacred animals were kept in 
the pastures or stables attached to the temple: at 
Memphis bulls fed for the purpose were exhibited, and 
encouraged to fight, in the avenue before the temple 
of Phthah. 

The temples were under the care of a priesthood, 
divided into several orders, amply endowed, and, like 
the Hindu Brahmans, monopolizing the literature, 
philosophy, and science of the nation. They are 
generally believed to have formed a sacred caste; but 
as no corresponding separation has been traced in the 
places of sepulture, it may be presumed that caste was 
not in Egypt so rigid in its prohibitions as it after¬ 
wards became in India. 1 

The priests shared with the king and the nobles, or 
military order, the privilege of owning land. They 
were in constant attendance on the royal person, and 
daily exhorted him on the performance of his duties. 
The monarch was initiated into the priesthood at 
his coronation if not previously of that caste, and he 
is accordingly seen on the monuments performing 
the sacred functions. G-arments of white linen and 
sandals of papyrus were the established dress of the 
priests. Neither wool nor leather was permitted to 
touch their flesh, and the woollen garment allowed to 
be worn over the linen tunic for warmth was laid 

1 It has been argued that caste could not have existed because the 
monuments record a general officer whose elder brother was both a 
priest and a high civil officer: but this exhibits a want of acquaint¬ 
ance with the commonest usages of India, at the present time: 
thousands of Brahmans are in the British service, civil and military, 
whose brothers are officiating priests. 


THE TEMPLE WOKSHIP. 


165 


aside on entering the temple. In performing the 
services they were attired in splendid vestments. The 
distinctive garb of a sacrificing priest appears to have 
been a leopard’s skin. They bathed in cold water 
four times in the twenty-four hours, and shaved their 
heads and whole persons every second day. In place 
of the hair, wigs of capacious dimensions were worn, 1 
which in the ceremonies were exchanged for cases or 
vizards, to imitate the heads of the sacred animals. 

The same scrupulous attention to external cleanli¬ 
ness was extended to every article of food. Fish and 
beans were eschewed as unclean; the very sight of 
the latter was pollution to a priest. Mint, parsley, 
and many other herbs were proscribed. The flesh of 
swine, sheep, and cows was forbidden, but ox beef and 
geese were sanctioned and formed their principal sus¬ 
tenance. Polygamy, though permitted to the people, 
was prohibited to the sacred orders. 

There were several gradations, from the pontiff or 
high priest down to the shrine-bearers and wardens, 
who were accounted of the sacred caste, without being 
bound to equal strictness with the superior ranks. 
The highest orders were four ,prophets, sacrists , scribes , 
and horologists. The first were the presiding ministers 
in every temple, and had charge of the revenue and the 
sacrifices. They were to commit to memory all that 
concerned the gods, the laws, and the education and 

1 The wigs were precisely of the same shape as those used by our 
own legal and ecclesiastical dignitaries. They were worn by persons 
of rank, both male and female, and are even seen on the images of 
the gods. In the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum may be 
seen the figures of lords and ladies in full bottoms exactly like our 
judges of assize; while a goddess bears upon her head a genuine 
cauliflower , of which the last known specimen passed away with the 
late venerated Archbishop of Canterbury. 


166 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


discipline of the priesthood. The sacrists ( stolistce) 
had charge of the vestments, 1 with the books which 
prescribed the sealing of the victims. The scribes 
( grammateis ) studied the hieroglyphics and mathema¬ 
tics, and regulated the vessels and furniture of the 
temple. The fourth order drew out horoscopes, and 
professed the four books relating to astronomy. 

The priests were the sole depositories of Egyptian 
science, which, notwithstanding its repute among the 
nations of antiquity, seems never to have been based 
on genuine physical or mathematical proof. Though 
great observers of remarkable phenomena, their object 
was to predict their recurrence, rather than to reason 
on their causes or effects. Their superiority seems 
to have consisted more in the long induction of facts 
preserved in their registers, than in the power of 
applying them to further discoveries. It is true that 
Thales, Pythagoras, and Plato were believed to have 
acquired their knowledge of mathematics in Egypt; 
but it may be doubted whether those celebrated 
G-reeks were indebted to the Egyptian priests for 
more than propositions: the demonstrations were 
probably due to their own powers of reason. 2 Thales, 
for example, is said to have taught the Egyptians to 
measure the elevation of the Pyramids by the simple 
expedient of erecting a stick at the extremity of their 
shadows. He inferred the height of the pyramid from 
the length of its shadow by observing the ratio between 
the stick and its shadow. 

The science most advanced in Egypt has always 
been said to be astronomy. The cloudless skies and 
wide horizon of the Delta presented advantages for 
observations of the heavenly bodies, which a nume- 
1 See 2 Kings x. 22. 2 Kenrick, i. 327. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


167 


rous and educated priesthood could hardly fail to 
improve. Diodorus says they claimed to have taught 
astronomy to the Babylonians themselves ; and the 
Greeks universally allowed their own obligations to 
Egypt in this respect. Thales, who first corrected their 
calendar from 360 to 365 days, was supposed to have 
acquired his knowledge in Egypt, where the five addi¬ 
tional days appear to be as old as the Osirian legend. 
The true length of the solar year is 365^ days; and this 
secret also, according to Strabo, was communicated to 
the Greeks from the Egyptians, yet the civil year 
w^as always reckoned at 360 days. The priests are 
said to have reconciled their chronology with the 
true one by means of a cycle called the Sothiac period, 
which was regulated by the heliacal rising of the Dog 
Star (Sothis) on the first of Thoth, the new-year’s-day. 
This being accurately observed, was found to recur in 
1461 years of 360 days, equivalent to 1460 true solar 
years. This cycle is alleged to be noted on the 
astronomical monument in the Ramesseion, 1 proving 
its use as early as 1322 b.c. 

On the other hand, it is certain that none of the 
monuments exhibit a representation of any instrument 
for observing the heavens, without which no very 
great progress in astronomy could be made. Sir 
George Lewis has shown that the true length of the 
year was known to the Greeks before the time that 
Strabo supposed them to learn the secret from the 
Egyptians. 2 The observations of the latter, he con¬ 
ceived, were rude and imperfect;—sufficient to fix the 
equinoxes, the solstices, the heliacal risings of particu¬ 
lar stars, and to calculate eclipses; but he cannot sup¬ 
pose “ they ever rose to the conception of astronomy 
1 See p. 69. 2 Ancient Astronomy, p. 279. 


16S 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


as a science, or treated it with geometrical methods. 
Their learning, in short, was that of the astrologer: 
they were the authors of horoscopes and divination by 
the stars, hut no Egyptian ever gained a name in 
science as an astronomer. As for the Sothiac cycle, it 
was matter of arithmetic, not astronomy. As soon as it 
was known that the solar year exceeded the civil by a 
quarter of a day, it was obvious that in four times the 
number of the days the excess would amount to an 
entire year: in other words, that 1461 (365^x4) 
common years would be only 1460 true solar years. 
The question is when this discovery was made, and of 
that there is no evidence gave the very doubtful 
interpretation of the zodiac in the Ramesseion. Before 
the hieroglyphic sign can be admitted to denote this 
cycle it must be shown that the cycle itself was in ex¬ 
istence. It is first mentioned by Censorinus, a.d. 238, 
who remarks that that year was the 100th of the 
Canicular (or Sothiac) period; the period therefore 
commenced a.d. 139; but the language implies that 
the cycle was founded simply on arithmetical com¬ 
putation, and there is no evidence whatever that it 
was in use 1460 years before. 

The practice of naming the days after the “ seven 
stars,” i. e., the sun, moon, and five planets, appears 
to have had its origin in Egypt. It implies the 
observance of a week of seven days, which, having no 
foundation in natural science, is plainly a relic of 
primeval revelation. Neither among the heavenly 
bodies, nor in any of the processes or productions of 
nature, is the number seven marked out for imita¬ 
tion. That it is everywhere held in reverence as a 
mystic number and the sign of perfection, results 
1 Ancient Astronomy, p. 278. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


169 


from its having been sanctified by the Creator’s rest, 
and the consequent institution of the Sabbath day. 
Weeks are mentioned, in com¬ 
pany with months, in some of the 
oldest hieroglyphics; and, curi¬ 
ously enough, they are called uJc, which may be the 
origin of our own Anglo-Saxon word. 

This division of time may have given rise to the 
fable of Saturn being the progenitor of Osiris, and at 
once the father and the youngest of the gods. The 
seventh day, which is Saturn’s, precedes and might be 
called the parent of the sun’s day (Osiris) ; again, it is 
the last, and so the youngest, of the days to which the 
names of the gods were given. 

Another Egyptian rite was divination. The pro¬ 
phets officiated at the sacrifices, and divined (as 
afterwards among the Greeks and Bomans) from an 
examination of the entrails. They also proposed 
questions to the oracles, and reported the reply. The 
most celebrated oracles in Egypt, according to Hero¬ 
dotus, were those of Hercules at Canopus, Apollo at 
Apollinopolis (Edfu), Minerva at Sais, Diana at Bubas- 
tis, Mars at Papremis, Jupiter at Thebes and Ammo¬ 
nium, and above all of Latona in the city of Buto. 1 

. Dreams, too, were of great authority in Egypt, and 
the “ magicians and wise men ” 2 who interpreted them 
were doubtless scribes and horologists of the priestly 
orders. The divining cups alluded to in Gen. xliv. 15 
have not been traced on the Egyptian monuments, 
but they are found among the relics of the Assyrians, 
who copied from Egypt. They were of silver and 




1 Herod, ii. 155. 

2 Gen. xli. 8. The Hebrew word rendered “magician” primarily 
means a “ writer.” 


170 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


other metals, engraved with mystic signs and figures. 
By these and other arts the Egyptian priests acquired 
such a reputation for hidden lore, that Africa has been 
always accounted the land of magic; and the vagrants 
who still traverse Europe under a name which some 
have derived from Egypt ( gipseys ), practise on the 
credulity of the ignorant what are still called the 
“ black arts.” 

The temple services included the three great rites of 
all ancient religion— sacrifice , libations , and incense. 
Notwithstanding the doubts expressed by Herodotus, 
it is admitted by Manetho, who could have no desire 
to calumniate his people, that human sacrifices were 
in use till abolished by Amasis, who substituted a 
waxen image. The victims were foreigners, and 
chiefly Greeks, or other fair-haired nations, whom the 
Egyptians called red men. Eed was the colour of 
Typhon the evil spirit, whence these sacrifices were 
termed Typhonean. It was said that the unfortunate 
beings were burned alive, and their ashes scattered to 
the winds. This barbarous rite rendered the shores 
of Egypt infamous to European voyagers. No direct 
traces of these burnt-offerings have been discovered 
on the monuments, but they often exhibit the kings 
devoting captives to the gods, and threatening them 
with a sword as if about to take their lives. This is 
usually explained as a symbolic action, denoting the 
condemnation of the prisoners to build the temples 
of the divinity, not to expire on his altars. General 
Howard Yyse, however, found in a tomb at Bab-el 
Melook unquestionable proofs of actual immolation 
by beheading. The decapitated trunks were repre¬ 
sented lying before a staff, bearing the head of a 
jackal (the emblem of Anubis, one of the angels of 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


171 


death) ; and in another place is a row of men on 
their knees, each held down by a priestess , while the 
blood is spouting from an incision on the crown of the 
head into a vessel placed in front . 1 The stamp or 
seal, also, has been found with which the victims 
were marked for sacrifice; it represents three men 
bound and kneeling, beneath the jackal. 

Notwithstanding the fables of a golden age, when 
Heaven was propitiated with flowers and fruits, and 
blood was not permitted to stain the sacred rites, the 
voice of every ancient religion retains the witness of 
the Divine law, that “ without shedding of blood is no 
remission .” 2 The penalty, however, was generally 
transferred to an innocent substitute. In the first 
recorded instance it was a firstling of the flock. 
“Noah offered of every clean beast and of every 
clean fowl .” 3 In the case of Isaac, a ram was the 
substitute , 4 which it may be concluded was then the 
usual sacrifice. Finally, under the law a bullock 
was appointed as the daily “ sin-offering for atone¬ 
ment.” 5 Similar sacrifices were undoubtedly in use 
among other nations; for Balaam erected seven 
altars, and “ offered on every altar a bullock and 
a ram.” 6 

Such a propitiatory sacrifice was uniformly observed 
among the many diversities of Egyptian worship. 7 
The victim having been examined and sealed by the 
priest as clean, was led to the altar, on which a fire 
was kindled, and a libation of wine poured out. The 
death-blow was then given, after which, the head 
being cut off, a prayer was repeated over it, “ that 
if any evil impended over the worshippers of their 

1 Vyse, i. 88. 2 Heb. ix. 22. 3 Gen. viii. 20. 4 Gen. xxii. 13. 

5 Exod. xxix. 36- 6 Numb, xxiii. 2. 7 Herod, ii. 2. 


172 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


country, it might be diverted upon that head .” 1 The 
head thus laden with the iniquity of the people, was 
thrown into the Nile, or disposed of to strangers. 
Herodotus says that these ceremonies concerning the 
head and the libation were uniformly practised by all 
Egyptians, and that on this account nothing would 
induce a native to eat the head of any creature that 
had breathed. 

The carcass of the victim was flayed, and some por¬ 
tions being consumed on the altar, the remainder was 
eaten by the priests and people. This feast upon the 
sacrifice was considered equivalent to eating with the 
god, the most binding proof of reconciliation. Eor 
the same reason the Jewish altar was called the table 
of the Lord ; 2 and the apostle terms the idolatrous 
sacrifices “ a partaking of the table of devils .” 3 The 
Egyptian altars were shaped like tables on legs, and 
the offerings are represented disposed upon them as 
for a feast. 

According to Herodotus, the bull, young or old, 
was the victim principally offered at Memphis; cows 
were never sacrificed, as being sacred to Isis. Sheep 
were also offered; but at Thebes, this animal being 
sacred to Amun, goats were substituted, except on the 
annual feast, when a ram was sacrificed. At Mendes, 
and throughout the adjacent plain, the goat was 
spared, as being sacred to Pan, and sheep were usually 
immolated. 

The modes of burning the victims varied according 
to the nature of the worship. At the chief festival of 
Isis, the body, after the separation of the neck and 

1 Compare Lev. xvi. 21; Deut. xxi. 1—9. 

2 Mai. i. 7. 

3 1 Cor. x. 21. 


THE TEMPLE WOBSHIP. 


173 


limbs, was filled with consecrated cakes, honey, raisins, 
and figs, with sweet perfumes, and burnt with plenty 
of oil. This sacrifice was preceded by a fast; and 
during the burning the worshippers beat their breasts, 
with loud lamentations. A similar mourning is men¬ 
tioned for the ram at the anniversary of Amun. 
When the burnt-offering was consumed, the reserved 
portions were feasted upon. The sacrifices included 
several kinds of birds , as under the Mosaic law, though 
differing from the usages of Greece and Borne. 

Strabo remarks that no music was used in the 
sacrifice to Osiris at Abydos; this may have been 
peculiar to that service, which partook of the character 
of a funeral, since a variety of musical instruments are 
found on the monuments, including guitars with three 
strings, lyres, harps (with as many as twenty strings), 
flutes,single, double,and oblique, cymbals,tambourines, 
drums, trumpets, and castanettes. The inscriptions 
speak of the “ minstrels of the Hall of Amunand a 
celebrated picture in the tomb of Bameses III. at 
Thebes, exhibits a couple of priests with their shaved 
heads playing on magnificent harps before two funereal 
deities. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the 
festive rites were accompanied by music, as was the 
case in the temple at Jerusalem, where the Levites, 
“arrayed in white linen, having cymbals, and psal¬ 
teries, and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, 
and with them an hundred and twenty priests sound¬ 
ing with trumpets,” and “ the trumpeters and singers 
were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising 
and thanking the Lord .” 1 According to the Babbins, 
the mighty chorus was heard as far as Jericho. 

Besides animal sacrifices, a great variety of un- 
1 2 Chron. v. 12, 13. 




174 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


bloody offerings were comprehended in the Egyptian 
ritual. The lotus, papyrus, onion, and many other vege¬ 
tables; fruits, cakes, milk, and wine; in fact, all the pro¬ 
ductions of the soil, were among the gifts to the gods. 
Onions are especially prominent in the representations 
on the monuments, and the priests who present them 
are attired in the leopard’s skin. The idols were also 
anointed with oil and other unguents, while sweet 
incense was burnt before them. 

The latter usage, which also entered largely into 
the Levitical ritual, probably originated with the 
Egyptians, who were famous for the variety and fra¬ 
grance of their perfumes. A great variety of gums was 
obtained from the neighbouring countries, and the 
compounding of them was assigned to a particular 
functionary, who had an apartment for the purpose in 
every temple. Kesin was burnt to the sun at his 
rising, myrrh at noon, and a mixture called JcupM, 
composed of sixteen ingredients, at sunset . 1 In like 
manner the Mosaic law appointed “ a holy anointing 
oil,” or ointment compounded “ after the art of the 
apothecary,” for the consecration of the ark and the 
priests, and a “most holy perfume” was burnt in the 
sanctuary . 2 

According to Maimonides, the intention of incense 
was to counteract the disagreeable odour arising from 
the slaughtered animals and their burning flesh; but 
the importance attached to it in Holy Scripture in¬ 
dicates a much higher signification. To burn incense 
was one of the chief privileges of the priestly office ; 3 
it was performed every morning and evening on 
the golden altar in the outer sanctuary* and with 

1 Smith’s Diet.'Bib. p. 866. 2 Exod. xxx. 23, 34. 

3 Numb. xvi. 40. 4 Exod. xxx. 7, 8; Luke i. 10. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


175 


great solemnity by the high priest in the most holy 
place, when he carried the blood within the veil on 
the annual day of atonement . 4 St. Paul alludes to 
this rite when he terms the charity of the Philippians 
“an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, 
well-pleasing to God ;” 2 and in the visions of St. John 
there are “ golden vials full of odours, which are the 
prayers of saints .” 3 Now, neither the works nor the 
prayers of men are properly well pleasing to God; 
they are accepted only for the sake of his Son Jesus 
Christ. The incense, therefore, was the type of Christ’s 
righteousness, as the blood of his atoning death. 
These constitute the value of his intercession as the 
true High Priest in the holy place not made with 
hands : 4 when appropriated by faith, they sanctify the 
imperfect services of his disciples, and enable their 
prayers and their alms to come up for a memorial 
before God .” 5 This was part of that spiritual teaching 
which enabled the “Israelite indeed” to say, “Sacri¬ 
fice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast 
thou prepared.” 6 The types of the law were illumined 
by the spirit of prophecy; and to the true children of 
Abraham it was a “ schoolmaster to bring them unto 
Christ,” that they might be justified by faith . 7 

It is not improbable that the Egyptians, also, were 
originally instructed in somewhat of this mystery; but 
as they departed from God in their hearts, the light 
of their sacrifices decayed, while the forms became 


1 Lev. xvi. 13, 14. 2 Phil - ? v - 48 - 

3 Rev. v. 8. 4 1X * 24 * 

5 Acts x. 4. In Rev. v. 8 the prayers of the saints are not the 
odours, but the vials into which the odours are poured. So in Luke 
i. 10, the incense is not prayer, but that mediation in the sanctuary 
which sanctified the prayer of the congregation without. 

6 Heb. x. 5. 7 GaL m * 24 * 





176 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


more varied and imposing. In permitting some of 
these to be transferred to his own worship, God 
was pleased to cleanse them from their impurity, 
and restore to them the reflection of the “ true 
Light which lighteth every man who cometh into the 
world .” 1 

The most extraordinary and degrading example of 
spiritual darkness which the world has ever known, 
-was the peculiar superstition which in Egypt changed 
the victim into a god, and literally “ worshipped the 
creature more than the Creator.” The Greeks and 
Romans accounted certain animals sacred to particular 
deities, and kept herds of sacred cattle in the pastures 
attached to their temples; but these were the property, 
not the substitutes, of the gods. The Egyptians, on 
the contrary, approached the dumb animals with every 
mark of adoration, and even installed them in the 
sanctuary as deities. The surprise and contempt with 
which strangers regarded this irrational superstition 
is well expressed by Clement of Alexandria : 2 “ Among 
the Egyptians the temples are surrounded with groves 
and consecrated pastures; they are furnished with 
propylsea, and their courts are encircled with an infi¬ 
nite number of columns; their walls glitter with 
foreign marbles and paintings of the highest art; the 
naos is resplendent with gold and silver and electrum, 
and variegated stones from India and Ethiopia; the 
adytum is veiled by a curtain wrought with gold. But 
if you pass beyond into the remotest part of the en¬ 
closure, hastening to behold something yet more ex¬ 
cellent, and seek for the image which dwells in the 
temple, a pastophorus, or some one else of those who 
minister in sacred things, with a pompous air singing 
1 John i. 9. 2 Kenrick, ii. 3. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


177 


a psean in the Egyptian tongue, draws aside a small 
portion of the curtain, as if about to show us the god, 
and makes us hurst into a loud laugh. Eor no god 
is found within, but a cat, or a crocodile, or a serpent 
sprung from the soil, or some such brute animal: the 
Egyptian deity appears a beast rolling himself on a 
purple coverlet.” “The temples of Egypt,” says Dio¬ 
dorus, “ are most beautiful; but if you seek within, you 
find an ape or ibis, a goat or a cat.” These creatures 
were provided with the choicest food; cakes of fine 
flour, steeped in milk or smeared with honey, were 
prepared for some; the flesh of geese, roasted or boiled, 
and that of birds and fish uncooked, were given for 
the carnivorous class. They were placed in warm baths, 
and anointed with costly perfumes, and everything was 
supplied to them which could gratify their appetites. 
The custody of the sacred animals was an honourable 
employment, descending from father to son; the per¬ 
sons who enjoyed it were distinguished by a peculiar 
emblem, and received the salutations of the people as 
they passed. 

The animals were endowed with fixed revenues, 
besides the vows and oblations made to them by 
private persons. They were of various grades, some 
being actually worshipped as deities, others respected 
only as their emblems; some again were venerated 
throughout Egypt, others only in particular nomes or 
districts. Of the first class were the sacred bulls of 
Memphis, Heliopolis, and Basis. At the former place 
a magnificent hall, with a court surrounded by pillars, 
was appropriated to the bull Apis (a name signifying 
“genius”), which was believed to contain the soul 
of Osiris. The beast was black, with a white spot on 
the forehead, the figure of an eagle or a vulture on the 


178 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


back, and a scarabeus 1 under the tongue. The con¬ 
junction of these marks pointed out the abode of the 
god, and the animal was actually worshipped with 
divine honours. For some reason, however, he was 
not allowed to live more than twenty-five years; at 
the end of that time the priests secretly drowned 
him, and after embalming the body honoured it with 
a stately funeral. At Abousir are eight chambers full 
of these extraordinary mummies. 

A considerable interval often elapsed before a suc¬ 
cessor with the requisite tokens could be found; all 
this time the priests and people kept a general mourn¬ 
ing for the absence of the “ great god.” When a calf 
was found properly marked, his epiphaneia was pro¬ 
claimed, and the creature was conducted in solemn 
procession to the temple. 

At Heliopolis the bull was called Mnevis, and by 
some considered as the father of Apis. Its colour on the 
monuments is white, though Plutarch states the animal 
to have been black. A black bull was also worshipped 
at Hermonthis, under the name of Basis or Bash. 

The veneration attaching to these animals extended 
to the rest of their species. If not actually worshipped, 
all were regarded, as in modern India, with a 
religious respect. This did not prevent the use of 
oxen for agricultural purpose, nor their flesh from 
being eaten, either among the Egyptians or the primi¬ 
tive Hindus. The cow , however, was strictly for¬ 
bidden, as sacred to Isis and Athor. In the temple of 
the latter deity a cow was installed, as the bull was at 
Memphis; she was selected in like manner for certain 
mystical marks, and honoured with oblations and 
worship. 


1 The form of the sacred beetle. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


179 


The cat was worshipped at Bubastis, as sacred to 
Pasht; the shrew-mouse to Latona at Buto; the 
cynocephalus (ape) to Chons; the ibis to Thoth; the 
hawk at Heliopolis ; and the dog at Cynopolis. These 
animals all enjoyed universal respect throughout 
Egypt. No native would on any account be guilty 
of their death; if one was found dead, the finder called 
all to witness he had not killed it; and if even by 
accident one of these sacred creatures were slain, the 
infuriated populace instantly retaliated on the offender. 
Moses alludes to this fanaticism, when he says,“Shall 
we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before 
their eyes, and will they not stone us ?” 1 The bodies 
of those which died were embalmed, and laid up in 
their several temples, where they are still found in 
catacombs, extending several miles in length. The 
dog is found buried in every town; whence Sir Gr. 
Wilkinson thinks that, though everywhere sacred, it 
was not worshipped in any particular temple. The 
hawk was sacred to the sun, to Athor, and to several 
divinities of the dead. It was specially worshipped at 
Heliopolis, at Philae, where it was said to be consecrated 
to Osiris, and at two “ cities of the hawk,” on the west 
bank of the Nile . 2 Its mummies are found in great 
numbers at Thebes; and so high was the consideration 
bestowed upon this bird, that hawks which died with 
the army in foreign countries were brought back to 
Egypt to be buried! 

The ibis was sacred to Thoth, who was said to 
have eluded Typho in its shape. It received divine 
honours at Hermopolis, the city of Thoth, and at its 
own city, Ibeum, twenty-four miles northward. It 
was famed for destroying the winged serpents flying 
1 Exod. viii. 26. 2 Hieraconpolis and Hieracon. 


180 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


from the Arabian and Libyan deserts into Egypt. 
Herodotus says he saw the bones and spines of large 
numbers of snakes lying in a gorge near Buto, where 
the ibises had met and destroyed them . 1 The ibis was 
a bird of the curlew kind, having a curved beak, with 
legs like a crane. There were two varieties ; a larger 
one with black plumage, and a smaller, measuring 
about twelve inches long, with a white body and 
black pinions and tail. It is the latter which is found 
embalmed. The skin of a snake was discovered in the 
intestines of one of these birds by Cuvier, so that it 
certainly preyed on the serpent, though the serpent 
was not winged. The ibis is now rarely seen in Egypt, 
but is said to pay occasional visits to the Lake Men- 
zaleh. 

Another creature, sacred throughout Egypt, was the 
asp called Thermuthis: it was a species of cobra di 
capello , very deadly yet accounted the emblem of 
Kneph, and worshipped in many temples. Being 
easily tamed it was kept in gardens and private 
houses, as a kind of guardian genius. In the same 
capacity, perhaps, it was selected as a symbol of 
royalty, and thence called the urceus and basilisk. 
The statues of Isis and other goddesses were crowned 
with it as with a diadem. The kings also wore a 
crown of asps; which was probably an ornament of 
jewels rather than the living reptile. A single asp 
of the same kind was usually attached to the front of 
the royal head-dress; whence the story of Cleopatra 
destroying herself by one of these snakes has been 
thought to be derived. The cerastes , or horned snake, 
a small venomous reptile still common in Upper Egypt, 
is said to have been also sacred to Kneph, and was 
1 Herod, ii. 75. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


181 


buried in bis temple. The harmless house-snake was 
looked upon with universal respect as an emblem of 
eternity, an honour enjoyed by the tribe in general. 
The “ great serpent,” however, was the type of the 
evil being, under the name of Apophis the giant. 

Many animals were venerated in some parts and 
execrated in others. The crocodile enjoyed divine 
honours at Coptos, Ombos, and Atribis, called also 
Crocodilopolis, in the Thebaid. Another city of 
Crocodiles in Lower Egypt, afterwards called Arsinoe, 
was the capital of the nome now termed the Faioom. 
At this place Strabo saw one of these monsters tame. 
It was fed with cakes, roast meat, and wine, which it 
accepted from the hands of the priests. They called 
it Souchos , or Suchus, a name supposed to refer to the 
god Sevek, whose representative it was. A story was 
here told of an ancient king, who, being driven into 
the lake by his own dogs while hunting, was taken up 
by a crocodile and landed safe on the other side. In 
memory of this escape he built the city of Crocodiles, 
and ordained divine honours to his deliverer. He also 
erected a tomb, a pyramid, and the labyrinth adjoin¬ 
ing - 1 Jn other towns, as Tentyris, Apollinopolis, 
Heracleopolis, and the island of Elephantine, the 
crocodile was execrated as the type of the evil one; 
and, though far from delicate food, it was eaten in 
defiance and contempt of the enemy. On a particular 
day there was a grand crocodile hunt in one of these 
districts, when the bodies of as many as could be killed 
were cast before the temple in triumph. By some the 
crocodile was regarded as an emblem of the sun, the 
reason for which appears to be that, like the hawk 
amongbirds,it is the most quick-sighted of quadrupeds. 

1 See p. 77. 


182 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


At Heracleopolis, tlie district adjoining that of 
Arsinoe, the hatred of the crocodile found expression 
in the worship of its enemy the ichneumon. It is no 
longer believed that this active little creature crept 
down the monster’s throat as it lay asleep on the banks, 
and gnawed its way out from the interior; but it was 
perhaps still more destructive to the species by preying 
on its eggs. The conflicts were so fierce between the 
respective partisans of these deities, that they are said 
to have not only killed, but devoured their opponents. 

The lion, the emblem of more than one deity, was 
held in especial honour at Leontopolis. As the king 
of beasts, he was a symbol of force, whether deified 
in the sun, in Hercules, Minerva, or Vulcan. The 
lion, too, was often the type of a king. His body 
joined to a human face made the sphinx, the symbol of 
intellect united with strength. As the Nile began to 
rise when the sun was in the constellation Leo, the 
waterspouts and fountains were adorned with lions’ 
heads;—a custom which has passed into universal art. 
The lion was not indigenous in Egypt, and no mummies 
of it have been found. 

The hippopotamus was sacred to Mars, and wor¬ 
shipped at Papremis, a city in the Delta. It seems, 
therefore, to have once inhabited the Egyptian Nile, 
though it is now restricted to Ethiopia. It was the 
type of Typho, of “ ingratitude,” and of “ impudence 
yet its mummies were preserved at Thebes, one of 
which is in the British Museum. 

The ass, too, was regarded as an emblem of Typho, 
who was said to have escaped on one from the battle. 
As such it was held in general contempt. 

The goat received divine honours in the Mendesian 
nome, and the sheep in the Thebaid. The inhabitants 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


183 


of each partook freely of the sacred animal of the 
other. The pig was everywhere proscribed, not from 
veneration, but horror: it was regarded as the abode 
of unclean souls ; but once a year it was sacrificed to 
the moon. 

The creature-worship comprehended the finny tribe 
no less than quadrupeds and reptiles. The most noted 
were the oxyrhinchus, or sharp-nosed fish, worshipped 
at a city called by its name; the jphagrus , or eel; and 
the lepidotus, a kind of salmon or perch. There was 
also the lato, which gave its name to Latopolis, now 
called Esneh. Several kinds of fish have been found 
embalmed in the tombs, but their forms are not 
easily distinguished, and antiquarians are not agreed 
upon their identity. 

Even insects were not beneath the honours of this 
comprehensive idolatry. The beetle, in particular, was 
sacred to several deities, and through a great portion 
of Egypt was worshipped as one of the gods of the 
country . 1 It was an emblem both of the sun and of the 
world (creation), and accordingly received the highest 
honours at Heliopolis and Memphis, where Ba and 
Phthah were the chief deities. It is found embalmed, 
too, at Thebes, a city so truly the mother of Egyp¬ 
tian abominations, that birds, rats, shrew-mice, toads, 
snakes, beetles, and flies, have been found there em¬ 
balmed in one tomb . 2 The sacred beetle was a favourite 
figure in rings, necklaces, and other trinkets of all 
sizes and qualities, which are found in great numbers 
throughout Egypt. By some it is supposed to have 
furnished the idea of the oval ring enclosing the royal 
names, as though they were engraved on the belly of 
a scarabeus. A figure of the scarabeus (generally 
1 Pliny, xxx., c. 11. 2 Wilkinson, c. 14, ii. 100. 


184 


ANCIEKT EGYPT. 


winged) is found in the best mummies, and it is often 
engraved with a prayer, or the name of the deceased. 

The Egyptians were derided by other idolaters for 
extending their worship to trees and plants. Pliny 
says they treated garlic and onions as gods, and 
Juvenal makes merry with their “garden-born deities .” 1 
This notion appears to have sprung from the frequency 
with which these vegetables appear among the offer¬ 
ings on the altars. Being the common food of the 
people, they were naturally offered to the manes of their 
ancestors; hut nothing appears on the monuments to 
indicate that any sanctity was attached to them. 

There is little certainty in the theories which have 
been hazarded to account for this extraordinary mass 
of creature-worship. Cicero thought that the Egyp¬ 
tians honoured those animals that were most useful to 
mankind; hut though this is true of some, others were 
destructive or contemptible, while the horse, which 
next to the ox is the most valuable, had no religious 
reverence. The priests pretended that the gods had 
assumed the forms of these animals in order to escape 
from their enemies; others said that they had been 
selected for the standards of the armies in ancient 
times, and so received the honour of the victories won 
under their auspices. Another legend ran that one 
of the kings had instituted a different worship in the 
several nomes, in order to prevent a common union 
against the throne. The true reason is doubtless to be 
sought in the pantheistic philosophy of the Ancient 
Egyptians. Their idea of Grod was not of a Person (as 
revealed in the primitive religion), but of a Spirit uni¬ 
versally diffused throughout nature, and manifested 
under an infinite variety of forms. Hence the confusion 
1 Sat. xv. 10. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


185 


and continual intermixture of the deities, representing, 
as we have seen, not distinct persons, but the attributes 
which necessarily intermingle in the Divine nature. 

The souls of men were believed to be emanations 
from the Divine Spirit, entangled for a while in mate¬ 
rial forms, but eventually to be again absorbed like 
drops in the ocean from which they were taken. 
Hence these also were invested with but a vague and 
shadowy personality. They were considered not as 
distinct beings, but as parts of the universal whole. 

From the spirit of a man to that of a beast was, to 
such philosophers, no very difficult transition. Both 
were parts of nature, and no essential distinction was 
recognised between them. The soul of a man might 
pass into the body of an animal, and again be exalted 
to a second birth as a human being. Death was not 
considered as the destruction of the individual, but as 
a shifting of a wandering particle’s temporary sojourn. 
Men, animals, and even inanimate things, were pro¬ 
claimed to be parts of one nature, the totality of 
which is God. Any one might be the special manifes¬ 
tation of his presence; and almost any consideration, 
whether of utility, allegory, or superstition, was per¬ 
mitted to determine the place. The adoration, it 
was pretended, was not to the creature, but to the 
god who inhabited it. Still the creature acquired a 
sanctity from the divinity, which diffused itself, in a 
lower degree, through all its species. 

Such is the Brahman philosophy at this day; and 
somewhat like it, probably, lay at the foundation of the 
animal-worship of the Egyptians. Hence, when Moses, 
who had been “ instead of God to Aaron the priest, 
had disappeared, and they “ wot not what was become 
1 Exod. iv. 16. 



186 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of him,” the Israelites called on Aaron to “ make them 
gods which should go before them.” The image with 
which he was most familiar was Mnevis, the sacred 
bull of Heliopolis, and after its likeness, probably, the 
golden calf was fashioned. It is observable, however, 
that Aaron did not propose this idol as another God , but 
as a new manifestation of the JEilohim which brought 
them up from the land of Egypt. In the spirit of the 
Egyptian philosophy he might have expected that the 
spirit previously abiding in Moses would migrate into 
this image; accordingly he built an altar before it, 
and proclaimed a feast unto Jehovah . 1 These notions, 
acquired in Egypt, may explain, what would otherwise 
appear an impossible absurdity, that men “ professing 
themselves wise ” should pay divine honours to a 
fellow-mortal, and even a brute beast. 

It is still, however, impossible to account for the 
peculiar selections, and the capricious variety, of the 
Egyptian animal- worship. It seems to partake of the 
equally capricious fetichism which is still common 
among the negro tribes, and was perhaps always cha¬ 
racteristic of the children of Ham. 

An important ceremony, which the classical writers 
declare to be of Egyptian origin, was the assembling 
all the nation at certain festivals to a particular temple. 
These assemblies were called panegyries , and the great 
pillared halls appear to have been constructed for their 
reception. Erom these national concourses the Greeks 
derived their Pythian and Olympian Games. Three 
times in the year the Jews, also, were commanded to 
appear before the Lord, but always at Jerusalem, 
in striking contrast to the temple gatherings of Egypt, 
which were held at various places on the feasts of the 
1 Exod. xxxii. 1—5. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


187 


several gods. The most popular were the festivals of 
Artemis at Bubastis (the Diana of the Ephesians), 1 and 
of Isis at Busiris, in the middle of the Delta. The 
worship of these female divinities was attended (as in 
Greece and Borne) with more than ordinary license. 
Women were then released from their seclusion. 
Crowds of both sexes navigated the Nile, with music 
and dancing, to the place of concourse, summoning 
the inhabitants of every place which they passed to 
come out and j oin in the festivity. As many as 700,000 
persons are said to have been thus congregated at the 
greater panegyries. The revels were prolonged through¬ 
out the night, and were attended with that “ excess of 
riot ” which usually disgraced the heathen ceremonies, 
and which is too faithfully reproduced in the Hindoo 
temples of Siva at this day. 

The feast of Isis Neith, in the roofless temple of Sais, 
was celebrated with a general illumination throughout 
Egypt. The temple was lighted up with great vessels 
of oil and salt, having floating wicks, and every city 
and house hung out its lamps. This temple was further 
famous for the mysteries of Osiris, a dramatic repre¬ 
sentation of the suffering, dying, and resuscitated god. 
The voyage of Isis in quest of his remains was per¬ 
formed on a lake within a sacred enclosure. Like the 
mysteries of Eleusis and many other rites of heathen¬ 
ism, these observances were guarded by a secrecy 
which it would be unprofitable to penetrate. We 
leave them to the shelter of that darkness under the 
shades of which they were appropriately enacted. 

An act of worship frequently represented on the 
monuments, consisted of running in to the presence of 
the deity with an offering of incense. The offerer is, of 
1 Acts xix. 28. 



188 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


course, a priest, or the king who was in effect the chief 
priest: the peculiarity lies in the evident haste of 
his approach;—a circumstance strangely contrasting 
with the ceremonious preparations elsewhere required 
for holy employments. It seems to claim a freedom 
of access, which was emphatically denied to sinners in 
the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. The 
Egyptian priests exercised the further privilege of 
introducing others to the presence of the deity, a 
ceremony often represented on the monuments. In 
some cases a king is conducted by a god, or by a 
priest wearing the insignia of a god. Herodotus takes 
notice of these “introductions” ( xpotraytoycu ) as a 
thing first invented by the Egyptians, and imitated 
from them by the Greeks. The Mosaic law assumed 
a severer and a juster aspect. “Into the second,” or 
inner division of the sanctuary containing the mercy 
seat, “ went the high priest alone once every year, not 
without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the 
errors of the people: the Holy G-host this signifying, 
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
manifest.” 1 It was not till the outer tabernacle had 
been removed and the veil rent in twain, for the new 
and living way opened through the death of Christ, 
that Jew and G-entile, made one new man by the throw¬ 
ing down the middle wall of partition between them, 
obtained access (TTpoffayioyrtr) by one Spirit to the 
Eather. 2 It is only He who is both God and man 
who can truly present his people as kings and priests 
unto Grod and his Eather. 3 

Processions were another important part of the 

1 Heb. ix. 7, 8. 

2 Compare Matt, xxvii. 51; Heb. x. 20; Eph, ii. 14, 15, 18. 

3 Rev. i. 6. 


THE TEMPLE WORSHIP. 


189 


Egyptian ritual, and copied from it by other idolaters. 
They probably originated in the custom of the king 
showing himself to his subjects on state occasions, 
or in his triumphal marches to and from the seat of 
war. The idols and consecrated animals were led 
out in like manner from their secret shrines, and 
paraded amidst the shouts of admiring multitudes. 
The sacred Nile, of course, was the principal route of 
the procession, and a boat formed the triumphant 
vehicle, just as images are still carried in similar pomp 
on the waters of the Ganges. This boat, in fact, was 
so generally adopted, that it became the regular 
conveyance, even when the procession was by land. 
The idols are represented seated in a crescent¬ 
shaped boat, the name of which, as we learn from 
Herodotus, was bari. It was highly carved, and 
adorned at each end with the symbol of the god. 1 At 
other times they are standing on a platform carried by 
poles on the shoulders of the priests. 2 In this manner 
they were transported across the Nile, or borne round 
the precincts of the temple with incense burning 
before them, sacrifices and offerings being made at 
every halt. The spacious courts, their lofty colonnades, 
and the avenues lined with sphinxes, afforded an ample 
stage for this exhibition. The numerous priests, mar¬ 
shalled in their several orders, were distinguished by 
different vestments, by symbolical head-dresses, and 
by the other insignia of the gods. 

The scene was varied by processions of woe as well 
as of joy. Part of the rites of Osiris consisted in 
mourning processions, continued for four days together 

1 Mr. Harcourt conceives the bari to be undoubtedly an emblem of 
Koah’s ark.— Doctr. Del. 

2 See Isa. xlvi. 7; Jer. x. 5. 


190 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


in the month of October. The cow of Isis was veiled 
in black, and the attendants beat their breasts with 
loud lamentations. In the spring the procession 
descended to the sea, where the priests, having made 
an image of the clay in the shape of the new moon, 
exclaimed that “ Osiris was found,” and then returned 
up the river with every demonstration of joy. There 
was a third grand procession, called Niloo , which took 
place at the summer solstice, when the Nile began to 
rise, and the union of its water with the expectant 
fields was celebrated as the mystic marriage of Isis 
and Osiris. 

These rites recurred with a monotony analogous to 
that continual repetition which gave such solemnity 
to the gigantic architecture of Ancient Egypt. What 
we know of human nature assures us they must have 
exercised a dread fascination over the minds of their 
votaries;—a kind of awe which is not inconsistent 
with sensual excess. They could never have elicited 
a faith working by love. They could never illumine 
the inner being with the gradually increasing light of 
that perfect love which “ casteth out fear.” 1 


1 1 John \y. 18. 


191 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE EUNERAL RITES. 


Antiquity of Burial—Egyptian details — Embalming — Relics — Papyri—Mummy 
Case — Inquest—Sepulchres — Transmigration—Different tenets—Hall of Osiris 
— Prayers—Negative Confession — Judgment — Paradise—Place of Torment — 
Remains of original Revelation, 

Next to public worship, and perhaps before it, as 
an expression of the religious hopes and fears of a 
nation, are its funeral obsequies. Abraham bowed to 
the great law of the fall when he desired to bury his 
dead out of his sight; at the same time he testified, 
his faith in the promise by acquiring a sepulchre, his 
only personal possession in the land which was to be 
the home of his posterity. Jacob and Joseph adhered 
to the same covenant: “ There,” said the dying Israel, 
“ they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they 
buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried 
Leah —“ bury me with my fathers in the cave that 
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.” 1 

The Egyptians well understood this original law 
of dust to dust. The hills on the western side of 
the Nile are pierced with sepulchres, on which they 
lavished a care denied to their houses ; accounting the 
grave the true home of mankind. At the same time 
there was a distant hope which induced them to pre¬ 
serve the frail tenement of clay by costly embalmments. 

The monuments afford more information on this 
part of their social economy than on any other: in 
1 Gen. xlix. 29, 31. 


192 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


fact, the larger part of them are sepulchres; the last 
as well as the first possessions of men. The entire 
arrangements, from the moment of death to the closing 
of the tomb, are graphically portrayed; nor were the 
imagination and affection of the survivors content to 
stop at this last visible boundary ; the history of the 
soul is carried beyond the grave, and its sealed doors 
are covered with lists of the oblations which continued 
to be made for its benefit. The first scene is the 
corpse prostrate on the bed of death, with the soul 



taking its flight from the mouth in the shape of a 
bird with human visage. The mourners are painted 
going about the streets in companies; both men and 
women beating their bosoms, and throwing dust on 
their heads. Tor the great ones of the earth, songs 
were repeated twice a day during the ten weeks 
employed in the embalming. 





THE EUNERAL RITES. 


193 


The latter office belonged to a special class, who 
received the corpse in their own quarter at a distance 
from the temples, and returned the mummy for 
the funeral rites. The brain and more perishable 
parts of the body were first extracted, partly to 
stay the progress of corruption, and partly with the 
view of subjecting them to the judgment of Osiris 
for the deeds of the body. The figures of speech 
which ascribe our actions to the heart, the brain, or 
other physical organs, were taken so literally, that 
portions of the frame were set apart in vases (seen 
near the mummy), to be actually weighed in the 
scales of judgment. 

The cavities were filled with myrrh, cassia, and other 
fragrant gums, and the whole corpse was steeped for 
seventy days in natron; a pungent salt found in great 
abundance in the western lakes. When thoroughly 
saturated, the body was carefully wound in linen 
bandages, compressed and interlaced so as to envelop 
every limb with a uniform pressure; not a single 
bandage employed in modern surgery is said to be 
wanting. Between the inner and outer swathing 
various objects are found; such as figures of Osiris, or 
of a scarabeus with the name of the deceased, engraved 
seals, amulets, rings, necklaces, and jewels. The collars 
or chains worn by kings and other personages (as by 
knights of orders, chief justices, and mayors among 
ourselves) were sometimes of great size, made of gold, 
and enriched with precious stones and enamel. The 
signet rings of Thothmes III. and Amunoph III., one 
of gold, the other of silver, are in existence and bear 
their shields. Some rings are engraved with a lion, 
sphinx, or idol; some have a little square box (like 
a locket), to contain perfume. The most important 


194 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


relics are the papyri , containing writings and paintings 
descriptive of the state of the soul after death. 

The mummy was enclosed in a pasteboard case 
fitted to its shape, and painted in brilliant colours with 
the likeness of the deceased. The face of this portrait 
was sometimes gilded, but more generally coloured, 
brown was used for men, and an olive green for 
women. Artificial eyes of glass were inserted, and the 
whole was covered with hieroglyphics and emblemati¬ 
cal figures expressing the name and quality of the 
deceased. This pasteboard case was often enclosed in 
one, two, or even three external coverings of wood. 

Cheaper methods of embalming were practised by 
the poorer classes. In some cases the corpse was 
dipped in liquid asphalt; in others, only salted and 
dried, or filled with common salt and ashes and chips 
of bitter wood. 

After the embalming followed a formal inquest on 
the deceased, preliminary to the interment. The 
sepulchre being usually situated on the western bank 
of the Nile, and the dwellings on the eastern, it was 
necessary to transport the funeral across the water. 
This was so important a religious ceremony, that when 
the river did not intervene, an artificial lake was made 
for the purpose. Before the coffin was placed in the 
lari or sacred bark, forty-two judges took their seats 
beside the water, and all comers were publicly cited 
to accuse the deceased. His relatives attended, on the 
other hand, to enumerate his good qualities, when 
judgment was given for or against the funeral rites. 
If a just impediment appeared, the body was remitted 
to the house till the family could disprove the accu¬ 
sation, or discharge the debt. If the verdict was 
favourable, an attendant touched the mummy with 


TIIE EUNEEAL EITES. 


195 


the symbol of approbation, and it was conveyed to the 
tomb, attended by priests reciting prayers and burn¬ 
ing incense. 

Herodotus mentions a custom of placing the dead 
at table, and making them partakers of the festive 
banquet; but the monuments do not confirm the 
statement. The mummies not interred were, perhaps, 
occasionally taken from their closets, and presented 
with food and wine, similar to the offerings regularly 
made at the door of the sepulchre. 

The sepulchral apartments were brilliantly painted 
with appropriate scenes from the life of the deceased. 
The farmer, trader, fisherman, sportsman, warrior, or 
priest, lay surrounded by his own avocations or 
amusements. The possessions of the man of property 
were enumerated, as if his eyes could still feast on 
them in the grave. His granaries are being filled, his 
slaves toiling, his table prepared j as if all had not 
passed to another, and the picture only mocked the 
mummy with pleasures that had fled for ever. 

The poorer classes were piled in common receptacles, 
yet still with much attention to the preservation of 
the corpse. On every side death was confronted in 
his own domain : the art of man is still powerful to 
arrest his triumph, thousands of years after succumb¬ 
ing to the fatal blow. 

Such extraordinary care for the preservation of 
the body, seems to argue a conviction that its uses 
were not yet ended. The Egyptian creed must have 
been widely different from that of the Asiatics, who 
hastened to destroy the wondrous mechanism in the 
flames. Herodotus tells us that “ the Egyptians were 
the first to maintain the doctrine that the soul of man 
is immortal ;** he means, probably, the first to main- 


19G 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


tain that doctrine in connexion with transmigration; 
for “ they affirm,” he continues, “ that when the body 
perishes, the soul enters always into some other 
animal; and when it has made the circuit of all 
terrestrial and marine animals and birds, it again puts 
on the human body: this circuit, they say, is accom¬ 
plished in three thousand years .” 1 Strange as such 
a notion sounds to ourselves, all classes of Hindus are 
firm believers in transmigration at this day; and 
Pythagoras was so deeply impressed with the Egyptian 
doctrine that he transplanted it into Greece, where it 
was long regarded as a profound philosophy. 

The theory, however, was not always the same. The 
modern Brahman agrees with the ancient Egyptian in 
teaching a second birth in human nature, after a series 
of transmigrations through other creatures. In fact, 
every Brahman believes himself to have passed through 
this probation, and to have actually attained the second 
birth. Hence they style themselves “ twice born 
and say it is only from this caste that a soul can pass 
to its rest in God. The Brahman, however, not only 
disclaims all memory of the former life, but destroys 
the body by fire, anticipating a new one in each new 
state of existence, while the Egyptian would seem to 
liave expected to return to the same body, and to re¬ 
awake in the midst of its familiar scenes. The Hindus 
differ further in holding the intermediate transmigra¬ 
tion to be proportioned to the offences of the indi¬ 
vidual, instead of always comprehending the entire 
round of creation. Possibly this was the Egyptian 
doctrine also, though it is darkly worded by Hero¬ 
dotus. The monuments throw no light on the 
question of transmigration at all; since, with the 
1 Herod, ii. 123. 


THE ETTNEEAL RITES. 


197 


exception of one doubtful sculpture, supposed to re¬ 
present the return of a wicked soul to earth in the 
shape of a swine, no representation of this tenet has 
been found. Some writers suppose the transmigra¬ 
tion was not to commence till the body had perished; 
and the embalmment was intended to delay the doleful 
journey, the soul continuing with the corpse as long 
as it remained entire. That such an opinion was 
entertained by many is not improbable, since in the 
nineteenth century of gospel light some are still weak 
enough to think a churchyard haunted by ghosts. 
But this superstition was as little consistent with the 
authorized creed of the Egyptians as it is with our 
own. 

On the papyri enclosed with the mummies we 
find described the whole progress of the spirit in the 
other w r orld. The funeral procession is seen crossing 
the Nile in the crescent-shaped bark, preceded by the 
priest in leopards’ skin, burning incense and making 
libations ; the departed spirit itself walks in the train 
either in his bodily likeness, or in the conventional 
form of the hawk with human face. The doors of the 
sepulchre close upon the corpse as the “ gates of 
hell,” and he appears beyond them taking his solitary 
pilgrimage through the realms of darkness. He pro¬ 
ceeds through divinities of various orders, sacred 
animals, and Tartarean monsters, to the judgment hall 
of Osiris. Here, standing at the door in an attitude 
of supplication, he offers the following prayer:—“ O 
thou avenger, lord of justice, great god, lord of the two 
Themes (justice and truth), I worship thee, 0 my 
lord. I have spoken, speak thou to me thy name: tell 
me the names of the forty-two gods who are with thee 
in the great hall of justice and truth, living guardians 


198 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of the wicked, fed with their blood: bring forward my 
righteousness, search out my sins.” The deceased 
then proceeds to enumerate the moral offences of 
which he has not been guilty: “ I have defrauded no 
man, I have not slaughtered the cattle of the gods, I 
have not prevaricated at the seat of justice, I have not 
made slaves of the Egyptians, I have not defiled my 
conscience for the sake of my superior, I have not 
used violence, I have not famished my household, I 
have not made to weep, I have not smitten privily, I 
have not changed the measures of Egypt, I have not 
grieved the spirits of the gods, I have not committed 
adultery, I have not forged signet rings, I have not 
falsified the weights of the balance, I have not with¬ 
held milk from the mouths of my children.” The 
offences that follow are peculiar to the climate and to 
the idolatry of Egypt: “ I have not pierced the 
banks of the Nile in its annual increase, I have not 
separated to myself an arm of the Nile in its advance.” 
These passages render it probable that in ancient as 
in modern times, an important part of the revenue of 
Egypt was raised by imposing a tribute upon the 
lands overflowed by the annual inundation; so that to 
obtain any portion of these fertilizing waters secretly 
was to defraud the state. This singular disavowal 
concludes thus: “ I have not disturbed the gazelles of 
the gods in their pasturage, I have not netted the 
water-fowl of the gods, I have not caught the sacred 
fishes.” It may be inferred from this and other 
passages, that there were parks or preserves around 
the Egyptian temples, where the sacred animals were 
kept, and that it was sacrilege to take them. “ I have 
not despised the gods in their offerings;” in other 
words, “ I have not offered to the gods that which 


THE EUNERAL RITES. 


199 


is imperfect,” “ I have not bound the cattle of the 
gods, I have not pierced the god in his manifesta¬ 
tion,” as a sacred animal. The prayer concludes with 
petitions for purification and illumination. 

The deceased next enters the great hall of judgment, 
and, kneeling before the forty-two avengers, protests 
to each his innocence of the particular sin of which he 
was the avenging minister. The names of these 
terrible beings are descriptive of their appearance or 
qualities. The soul says to the first of them,. “ 0 
thou that hast long legs (art swift to pursue), I have 
not sinned.” To the second, “ O thou that dost try 
with fire, I have not been gluttonous.” To the fourth, 
“0 thou that devourest tranquillity (that is, with 
whom there is no peace), I have not stolen. ’ To the 
fifth, “ O thou that smitest the heart, I have done no 
murder.” To the sixth, “ 0 thou with the two lions 
(heads), I have not falsified measures.” To the 
seventh, “ O thou that hast piercing eyes, I have not 
played the hypocrite.” To the ninth, “ O thou that 
dost make limbs to tremble, I have not lied.” To the 
sixteenth, “ 0 thou that dost delight in blood, I have 
not slain the cattle of the gods.” To the twenty- 
second, “ 0 thou that dost consume creation, I have 
not been drunken.” 1 

The foregoing may suffice as specimens of what has 
generally been termed the negative confession. Some 
parts of it remain still in much obscurity as to their 
import; others allude to offences of which it is a shame 
even to speak. The declaration of the apostle regard¬ 
ing the ancient world is here abundantly confirmed: 
“ They knew the judgment of God, that they who did 
such things were worthy of death. ’ 

1 Osburn, pp. 155—157. 


200 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The deceased is then conducted into the hall by two 
figures wearing the ostrich feathers, the badge of 
equity. Scales are erected in the centre, in which his 
heart is weighed by Anubis against the symbol of 
righteousness, and the result is noted by Horus the 
Sun-god, who beholds all the deeds of mankind. The 
record is written by Thoth, and presented by Horus 
to Osiris, before whom is lying a mystic beast, com¬ 
pounded of crocodile, hippopotamus, and lion, which 
signified the divine vengeance. In some paintings a 
voracious animal called Cerberus (but not triple¬ 
headed), and resembling the hippopotamus, the emblem 
of Typhon, keeps watch over the sepulchre. 

Such figures sufficiently indicate the deep-seated 
conviction of the human conscience, that “ it is ap¬ 
pointed unto all men once to die, and after that the 
judgment.” They show the misgiving so terrible to 
sinners, that, though all “ the ways of a man are clean 
in his own eyes, the Lord weigheth the spirits j” 1 but 
they know nothing of “ mercy rejoicing against judg¬ 
ment,” or of the blessedness of the man to whom the 
Lord imputeth “ righteousness without works.” The 
Egyptian when dying trusted to the blind demand of 
a heart which had not as yet been confronted with 
God: “ Let me be weighed in an even balance, that 
God may know my integrity.” 2 He was ignorant of 
the spiritual illumination: “ I have heard of thee 
by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth 
thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust 
and ashes.” 3 

Some of the paintings represent the spirits of the 
dead in Tartarus, armed with lances, fighting with 
the Typhonian animals, the hippopotamus, serpent, 
1 Prov. xvi. 2. 2 Job xxxi. 6. 3 Job xlii. 5, 6. 


THE EUNERAL RITES. 


201 


tortoise, and ass. In others they are presumed to 
have passed unopposed through the judgment hall, and 
are seen re-embarking on the Nile of the other world. 
Here they behold again the face of the sun, and 
rising with him to a celestial Nile, disembark in his 
sphere. The sun addresses them with the words: 
“ Take your sickles, reap your grain, carry it into 
your dwellings, that ye may be glad therewith, and 
present it as a pure offering to your god.” Over them 
is written, “ This great god speaks to them, and they 
speak to him; his glory illuminates them in the 
splendour of his disk, while he is in their sphere.” 1 
This would appear decisive of the sun being the 
great object of Egyptian worship. It is observable, 
also, that in the place of blessedness—in the language 
of the Brahmans, the sun’s paradise—the occupations 
of earth are continued; the spirits plough, and sow, 
and reap, and thresh; in allusion to which a hoe 
is usually found painted on the shoulder of a mummy, 
and the workman’s tools are interred with himself. 

It is not clear how long this beatified state was to 
endure, or whether it was eternal. The Brahmans 
limit the enjoyment of paradise to a period equi¬ 
valent to the balance of merit in favour of the soul 
when the account is cast up by the judge of the 
dead. That period expired, his claim is satisfied, 
and the soul must return to earth for another 
probation. 

Other representations exhibit a place of torment, 

1 Itosellini Mon. Civ. iii. 323, 328, ap Kenrick. Mr. Osburn 
gives the inscription thus: “ They have found favour in the eyes of 
the great God. They inhabit the mansions of glory when they enjoy 
the life of heaven. The bodies which they have abandoned shall repose 
for ever in the tombs , while they rejoice in the presence of the supreme 
God." This important addition does not appear in Kenrick. 


202 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


where wicked souls are condemned to terrible suffer¬ 
ings, embittered by reproaches from the fiends who 
inflict them. Here, too, the image of the sun is intro¬ 
duced, but black and rayless, and there is written over 
the condemned, “ They do not see this great god; their 
eye does not imbibe the rays from his disk; their 
souls are not manifested (or made illustrious) in the 
world; they do not hear the voice of this great god 
who towers above their sphere.” 1 The duration of the 
state of woe is again left uncertain, and it is by no means 
clear that the philosophy of the sacerdotal priests, still 
less the popular belief, on such mysterious subjects 
was fixed and determinate. We can trace, however, in 
the manner of their obsequies, an approximation to 
the true doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh, with 
some other parts of the original revelation to man. 

They retained, we see, that consciousness of immor¬ 
tality which was imprinted on man when he was 
created in the image of his Maker. They trembled 
under those convictions of “righteousness, tempe¬ 
rance, and judgment to come,” of which the natural 
conscience everywhere shows itself susceptible. 
Enough remained of the traditions from the time of 
man’s innocency to show them that happiness consists 
in seeing God face to face, in communing with him as 
friends, and in dwelling with him for ever. On the 
other hand, the sentence of the wicked still kept re¬ 
sounding in their ears: “ Depart from me; I never 
knew you.” 2 In some shape or other these primaeval 
truths must underlie every religious system; they are 
the last whispers of the original voice of God in the 
soul that was made in his image. It is the gospel 
only that unites them into a definite consistent 
1 Eosellini, ap Kenrick, i. 487. 2 Matt. vii. 23. 



THE ETHSTEBAL BITES. 


203 


utterance. It is Chbist, who has brought life and 
immortality to light. He is the resurrection, the 
way, and the truth. He it is who will both judge 
the world in righteousness, and keep his redeemed 
“ by the power of God through faith unto salvation, 
ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Ho man 
cometh unto the Father but by him; but he that hath 
the Son, hath the Father also. ** In thy presence is 
fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for 
evermore.” 2 


i 1 Pet. i. 5. 


2 Psa. xvi. 11. 



204 


CHAPTER X. 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


Connexion of History with Chronology-Want of a Common Era -/f h ?™ a t 
Version - Septuagint - Philo-Josephus -Jewish Corruptions - Antediluvian 
Patriarchs—Seasons for longer Chronology—Abraham to Solomon—Results 
First Egyptian Date-Shishak or Sheshonk - Bunsen's Scheme - Ethnical 
Grounds—Historical—Monumental—Isolated Names—No Era—Bunsen s Four 
Periods—Last only authentic—Date uncertain—Middle Empire visionary 
Era of Menes—Probable course of Events—Shepherd Invasion not Chronological 
—Parallel case in Russia—Difficulties of Bunsen’s Theory—Tablet of Abydos 

Astronomical Confirmation-Nothing definite before Shishak-Connexion with 
Scripture—Approximate Table of Manetho’s Dynasties. 


The province of history is to distinguish the facts of 
antiquity, amid the cloud of popular and poetical tradi¬ 
tion in which they are usually enveloped. Chronology 
assists in the inquiry by determining their dates. 
Pacts without dates are hut doubtful footmarks of the 
past. Tradition ever loves to throw its prodigies back 
into old uncertain ages, where they will he safe from 
unpleasant comparisons: a date , by connecting them 
with previous and contemporaneous history, would open 
objections which it might be difficult to refute. Hence 
the normal beginning of a fable is, “ once upon a time.’ 
In passing from the domain of legend into that ot his¬ 
tory the first question, therefore, is,— when? Till we 
have at least an approximate date the story does not 
emerge from the mists of mythology. 

On the other hand, a chronology without a history 
is even less real than a shadow. A shadow implies a 
substance from which it is cast, but a date without a 
fact is manifestly fictitious. Time is only recorded 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


205 


when something is done which it is desired to per¬ 
petuate ; and if not recorded, it must at best he only 
a conjecture. A legend which cannot he dated may 
possibly he true; hut great periods of time without 
even a legend to sustain them are certainly false. For 
this reason we reject, as altogether fabulous, the vast 
hut eventless periods prefixed to the chronology of the 
Babylonians and Hindus. 

In every endeavour, then, to reconcile the annals of 
different nations, the first step is to dismiss the years 
in which nothing is related to have happened; the next 
is to test the events by finding a time in which they 
may possibly have occurred. The latter process 
would have been attended with little difficulty if the 
several nations had dated their events from some com¬ 
mon Era, such as the Creation or the Blood. Neither 
of these, however, have been entered in any contempo¬ 
raneous register; they could afterwards be ascertained 
only by computation or Revelation. No attempt at 
such computation was made till thousands of years after 
the event, and then the calculation could only pro¬ 
ceed on the measures of time which had been inter¬ 
mediately adopted. In the Bible, where alone Reve¬ 
lation was possible, the events are not referred to any 
general era, but to the age of the patriarchs in 
whose time they occurred, to the reigns of the kings, 
and to other notes which require to be carefully 
compared in order to arrive at a continuous chro¬ 
nology. 

Hence the dates inserted in the margin of our 
authorized version, such as 4004 b. c., for the Creation 
of Adam; 2349 B.c., for the Blood; and 1491 b.c., for 
the Exodus, are by no means to be considered as parts 
of the Inspired volume. They are the results of Arch- 


206 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


bishop Usher’s calculations from the several indica¬ 
tions of time contained in the Old Testament. These 
computations are embarrassed by the numbers being 
differently stated in various ancient copies and versions 
of the Holy Scriptures. In Hebrew, as in Greek and 
Latin, numbers were commonly expressed by letters 
of the alphabet instead of figures; and these letters 
in the early methods of writing were easily mis¬ 
taken for one another, so that, when not written in 
words at length, a number was peculiarly liable to be 
changed by the error of the transcriber. 

Another source of disturbance is found in a discre¬ 
pancy, amounting in the whole to about fourteen cen¬ 
turies, between the chronology of the modern Hebrew 
text, which was followed by Archbishop Usher, and 
that of the Greek Septuagint;—the translation made 
at Alexandria, b. c. 277, and commonly used by our 
blessed Lord and his disciples. At first sight it is 
natural to think that the Hebrew, as being the original 
language, must contain the genuine record of Inspi¬ 
ration ; but it must be remembered that the Hebrew 
manuscripts now extant are copied from older ones; 
and none are so ancient as the time when the Greek 
translation was made. The question, then, is whether 
the Hebrew text at that time is truly represented by 
the Greek, or by the modern Hebrew: in other words, 
whether the discrepancy now existing is due to the fault 
of the Greek translators or of the Hebrew copyists. 

How, it is certain that the Septuagint was univer¬ 
sally received as authentic at the time it was made, and 
for many centuries after. Almost all the passages 
quoted from the Old Testament by the writers of the 
New are taken from this version; and it was never 
intimated, either by them or by their opponents , that 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


207 


any discrepancy existed from the Hebrew text. This 
amounts to a sanction of the passages quoted equal to 
inspiration itself, as well as to the highest approval of 
the entire version. 

“ Philo Judaeus, who wrote in the age of the apostles, 
assures us that the Greek version was made with such 
care and exactness, that there was not the least varia¬ 
tion in it from the holy original by addition, omission, 
or otherwise. He asserts that the Hebrews who 
knew the Greek language, and the Greeks who under¬ 
stood the Hebrew, were so struck with admiration 
at the entire agreement between the original and the 
translation, that they not only adored them as sisters, 
but as one and the same both in words and things: 
styling the translators not only accurate scholars, but 
inspired interpreters and prophets, who with a singu¬ 
lar purity of spirit had entered into the very senti¬ 
ments of Moses.” 1 It is observable, also, that 
Josephus, who wrote his Antiquities from the Hebrew 
Scriptures, generally agrees with the chronology of 
the Septuagint. 

These facts seem to confirm the substantial accuracy 
of the Septuagint version, and to prove that at the 
time of our Lord no such discrepancy as now exists 
had been discovered. Most modern students, there¬ 
fore, have agreed to prefer the Septuagint chronology 
to that which IJsher deduced from the Hebrew text. 
Suspicions, indeed, have not been wanting that, sub¬ 
sequently to the time of our Lord and his apostles, 
some of the chronological data of the Old Testament 
were ■ tampered with by the unbelieving Jews. Ho 
adequate motive can be assigned for an alteration in 
the periods of patriarchal and Jewish history by the 
1 Bussell's Connection of Sacred and Profane History, i. 62. 


208 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Greek translators, and it is inconceivable that they 
could have made any without speedy detection and 
exposure by the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem. On the 
other hand, reasons did exist why the opponents of 
the gospel should endeavour to diminish the evidence 
afforded by the Old Testament, that Jesus is ‘ the 
very Christ.” Some of the early Christian writers 
distinctly charge the Jews with being guilty of this 
fraud. The discrepancies are so numerous and so 
systematic, that it is difficult to suppose them to be 
purely the result of errors of transcription. Nor 
was a reason wanting why the unbelieving Jews 
should wish to abridge the period of their national 
history. 

An opinion very generally prevailed, both among 
Jews and Christians, that as the earth was made in 
six days and the seventh was the sabbath, and as one 
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a 
thousand years as one day, so the Messiah, or Second 
Adam, would appear at the close of the sixth millen¬ 
nium, which wokld be followed by a thousand years 
of sabbatical peace and felicity. Now, according 
to the Septuagint chronology, Christ was really born 
in the latter half of the sixth millennium; when 
the time of the seventh drew near, the Jews must 
either fight against a well-known tradition, received 
on the authority of their own Eabbis, or shorten the 
chronology, to allow of a longer interval for its lulfil- 
ment. They determined to put back the clock; for this 
purpose the Hebrew dates seem to have been altered by 
striking off a hundred years from the “ generations ” 
of the patriarchs before Abraham, and by expunging 
the second Cainan as a mistake. A “generation” 
is the age of the father at the Birth of the oldest son. 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


209 


This is stated in the present Hebrew text (G-en. v.) 
as follows:—Adam 130, Seth 105, Enos 90, Cainan 70, 
Mahaleel 65, Jared 162, Enoch 65, Methuselah 187, 
Lamech 182, Noah (at the flood) 600; making from 
the Creation to the Deluge 1656 years. But in the 
Septuagint Version, while the total age of each 
patriarch is the same, in six cases the age of the 
father at the birth of his first son is exactly 100 years 
more, so that the total period is 2256 years. Again, 
the Septuagint inserts after Arphaxad (G-en. xi. 12) a 
second Cainan, with a generation of 130 years, who 
is omitted in the Hebrew, but appears in Luke 
iii. 36. 

The majority of English scholars, including Hayes, 
Jackson, Eaber, Hales, Sir William Drummond, and 
Dr. Bussell, adopt the longer chronology of the 
Septuagint and Josephus, which is also that of the 
Greek church and of the Christian fathers in general. 
The shorter computation of the modern Hebrew was, 
however, inserted in the Latin Vulgate, and that 
translation being declared by the Council of Trent to 
be of equal authority with the original Scriptures, it 
cannot, of course, be questioned by members of the 
Church of Borne. 

With respect to the antediluvian ages, it is of little 
practical consequence which computation is adopted; 
but in the period which follows the Elood, the Scrip¬ 
tural narrative comes to be compared with the antiqui¬ 
ties of Egypt; and it is important not to narrow the 
field of inquiry by a mistaken deference to calculations 
which are really independent of the sacred text. In 
fact, the longer chronology is almost indispensable to 
the harmony of the inspired narrative itself; since the 
arrangement copied into the margin of our Autho- 
p 


210 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


rized Version, will be found to make Noah contem¬ 
porary for half a century with Abraham; and Shem, 
outliving the father of the faithful, to flourish with 
Esau and Jacob among the twelfth and thirteenth 
generations of his own posterity! N o such extraordi¬ 
nary results are at all hinted at in the Bible itself. 

Erom the call of Abraham to the Exodus, the 
“generations” are not continuous; but the length 
of this period is stated by St. Paul to be 430 years -, 1 
which approximates to what is recorded of the lives 
of the intervening patriarchs. 2 On the other hand, it 
may seem to be stated by Moses himself that 430 
years was the duration of the bondage in Egypt. 3 
Here, however, there occurs a different rendering in 
the Septuagint, which reads, “ The sojourning of the 
children of Israel in the land of Egypt, and in the land 
of Canaan ”—including the pilgrim life of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob in the 430 years of “ sojourning.” 
This is possibly a gloss introduced by the Greek 
translators to explain the text, yet it shows the 
meaning then attached to the original; and being 


1 Gal. iii. 17. 

2 Abraham’s age at the giving of the Promise (Gen. \ 

xii. 4) . f 

Ditto at birth of Isaac (Gen. xxi. 5) 

Difference. 

Isaac’s age at Jacob’s birth (Gen. xxv. 26) . 

Jacob’s age on going to Egypt (Gen. xlvii. 9) 

Levi’s full age (Exod. vi. 16) .... 

Supposed age on entering Egypt .... 

Supposed interval to the birth of Moses 

Age of Moses at Exodus (Exod. vii. 7) . . . 

Total.. 


Years. 

75 

100 

25 

60 

130 

215 

137 

45 

- 92 

43 

_80 

430 


3 Exod. xii. 40. 






THE CHRONOLOGY. 


211 


sanctioned by St. Paul, is properly adopted by modern 
chronologists. Tbose who adbere to tbe longer view 
suppose St. Paul to have simply followed the transla¬ 
tion in ordinary use, without attaching any weight to 
the number of years; and that in fact a longer period 
elapsed between the death of Jacob’s last son and the 
birth of Moses 1 than is allowed for by the others. 
Consequently this view would throw back all the 
dates anterior to the birth of Moses by 215 years. 

There is yet a period of some uncertainty from the 
Exodus to the founding of Solomon’s Temple, when 
the chronology becomes pretty surely established. It 
is stated in the first book of Kings at 480 years, 2 but 
this has been found inconsistent with the several notes 
of time contained in the books of Joshua, Judges, and 
Samuel, as well as with the statement of St. Paul, 3 
assigning 450 years to the judges between Joshua and 
Samuel. Josephus states the period (according to 
Dr. Hales) at 621 years; but Dr. Bussell shows, by 
an enumeration of the component parts, that his 
chronology really brought it to 592. Eusebius com¬ 
puted it at 600, which Jackson has corrected to 579, 
while Mr. Stuart Poole thinks 638 more satisfactory. 
The difference is not sufficient to be of any material 
importance. 

Erom the erection of the Temple to the birth of 
Christ the years are measured by the reigns of the kings, 
and by other particulars, which render the period so 
far certain, that the results of all the computations 
coincide, within, a very few years, with the date inserted 
in the margin of the Authorized Version, 1012 b.c. 

Having thus stated the facts of the Bible chronology, 
with the grounds for preferring the longer computation 

1 Exod. ii. 3. 2 1 Kings vi. 1. 3 Acts xiii. 20. 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


212 


of the Septuagint and the early Church, we annex the 
dates of the principal periods, according to the several 
calculations grounded upon this view: 


-- 

Hales. 

Jackson. Russell. | Poole. 

Creation of Adam.°* 

The Dispersion of Mankind i 

401 years later (Gen. x. 25) j ” 
Call of Abraham (Gen. xii. 1) „ 

Migration of Jacob into Egypt „ 
Birth of Moses. » 

Foundation of Temple . „ 

5411 

3155 

2754 

2078 

1863 

1728 

1648 

1027 

5426 

3170 

2759 

2023 

1808 

1673 

1593 

1014 

5441 

3185 

2784 

2038 

1823 

1688 

1608 

1016 

5421 

3159 

2758 

2082 

1867 

1732 

1652 

1014 


Solomon reigned after the foundation of the Temple 
thirty-seven years; and in the fifth year of his son 
Rehoboam, Jerusalem was besieged and taken by 
Shishak, king of Egypt. 1 This monarch is identified 
with Sheshonk, the first sovereign of Manetho’s 
Twenty-second Dynasty; and hence we arrive at the 
earliest really ascertained date in Egyptian chronology. 
The authorized version puts it at 972 b.c., Mr. Poole 
at 969, and Baron Bunsen at 962. All earlier dates 
in the arrangement of Egyptian annals are reached 
bv a backward computation, on the data afforded by 
the historians and the monuments, of the length of 
the several reigns previous to Sheshonk. These com¬ 
putations vary with the degree of credit attached to 
the numbers of Manetho, and the extent to which 
the monuments are supposed to confirm them. 

The principal English authorities, with Champol- 
lion and Rosellini, the Erench and Tuscan Commis¬ 
sioners, have arrived at conclusions substantially in 
accordance with the Scripture chronology, as now 
stated. The recent Prussian Commission, however, 
pretends to have found evidence of an antiquity 
1 1 Kings xiv. 25. 





















THE CHRONOLOGY. 


213 


incompatible with any possible arrangement of the 
sacred text. Baron Bunsen, fixing the Exodus as 
late as 1320 e.c., puts the arrival of Jacob in 2754, 
making the sojourn in Egypt 1434 years! He also 
dates the accession of Menes to the throne of Upper 
and Lower Egypt in 3643 b.c., nearly 500 years before 
the longest Scriptural computation of the Elood. 
Lepsius, from whom Bunsen derives his newest infor¬ 
mation, increases the antiquity of Menes to 3892 b.c. 
Nor is this all; Bunsen further insists on a period of 
petty states before the consolidation of the monarchy 
under Menes, which carries back the chronology to 
9085 b.c. ; 3000 years before the Scriptural era of 
Adam. Eor the creation of the first man he demands 
at least 10,000 years more I 1 

These extravagant computations profess to be based, 

1. On ethnological and philological considerations; 

2. On a new comparison of the historical fragments of 
Manetho and Eratosthenes; and 3. On the evidence 
of the monuments, as newly interpreted by the German 
explorers. 

1. The first is nothing but a conjecture of the length 
of time required for the development of different races 
and languages from a common original, disregarding the 
Scriptural account of a miraculous confusion of tongues 
at Babel. On this ethnological question we possess no 
information whatever, even if we could consent to 
eliminate the miracle referred to. We know that while 
some races have remained unchanged in colour and 
feature for many centuries, others have undergone the 
most extensive modifications in a comparatively short 
interval. The higher castes of Hindus have changed 
but little from the date of their first settlement in India, 

1 Outlines, etc.—Egypt and its Place in the World’s History. 


214 


ANCIEKT EGYPT. 


3000 years ago; while the descendants of the Portu¬ 
guese have become darker than any of the natives in 
one tenth part of that time. There is no more evidence 
or probability of a uniform ratio in such changes than 
of a uniform rate of growth in the individual stature. 
Equally impossible is it to establish any rule for the 
diversities of language, except that new forms of speech 
appear to be matured in the infancy of nations, much 
more rapidly than in an advanced state of civilization. 
Among the natives of America, and on the borders of 
India and China, two villages separated only for a 
few generations, will become mutually unintelligible, 
and in the north of Asia the Ostiaks have developed 
so many dialects out of one language as to render con¬ 
versation difficult beyond an area of ten miles. 1 It 
may be added that Baron Bunsen’s speculations on 
this head are not admitted by any other Semitic 
scholar. 2 

2. His arrangement of the Egyptian historians is 
equally novel and arbitrary; and as they contain no 
chronology of their own, the arrangement is everything. 
Hundreds of years may be added or subtracted by a 
stroke of the pen, according as we suppose more or 
fewer of the dynasties to have reigned in succession 
over a united Egypt, or to have been the contempo¬ 
raneous rulers of separate districts. This all-important 
point is determined, not by Manetho or Eratosthenes, 
but by the hypothesis on which the Herman critic 
chooses to arrange their catalogues. 3 

1 Professor MacHviller’s “Philosophy of Universal History,” 
iii. 483. 

2 Bible Dictionary , Egypt. 

3 “ It is allowed on all hands, by M. Bunsen, no less than others, 
that no chronological scheme of any value can be formed from 
Manetho’s list until it be first determined, either which, dynasties or 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


215 


Baron Bunsen assumes first that the thirty-eiglit 
Theban kings of Eratosthenes are identical with the 
first twelve dynasties of Manetho, and occupied just 
1076 years; and secondly, that the entire duration of 
the thirty dynasties was 3555 years. To establish the 
first point he has instituted an ingenious and laborious 
comparison between the texts of the two historians ; 
but no sober reader can rise from its perusal without 
feeling that it proceeds throughout on assumptions 
which fail to produce conviction. Eratosthenes himself 
never hints at the coincidence with Manetho, which 
forms the first foundation of the hypothesis, and the 
second is equally unknown to Manetho. Syncellus, 
indeed, assigns 3555 years as the total period of the 
thirty dynasties; but the statement is unmistakably 
not from the true Manetho, but from some of the fabri¬ 
cators of chronology, among whom a pseudo-Manetho 
held a prominent place. If this number be discarded 
as doubtful or spurious, there is absolutely nothing to 
support the extended system so confidently put forth. 1 

3. With regard to the corroboration derived from 
the monuments, it must be borne in mind that the 
monuments are in themselves undated. Some of 
them have a relative date, as compared with others; 
but there is none which can rank itself (without 
extrinsic aid) in any general order of time. Cham- 
pollion has demonstrated that no existing monument 
is older than 2200 years; whatever record may refer 
to greater antiquity, it only expresses the tradition 
of the subsequent age in which it was erected. The 

monarchs, were contemporary, and what deduction from the sum total 
is to be made on account of contemporaneousness .”—Aids to Faith , 
Genuineness and Authenticity of the Pentateuch , by Rev. G. Rawlin- 
son, p. 253. 


1 Diet. Bible, 507. 


216 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


chief sources of confirmation relied upon by modern 
critics are the royal names, found in such abundance 
throughout Egypt. Now, when a name occurs on 
a building whose period is otherwise known, or in 
a royal succession, it may he admitted as an im¬ 
portant corroborative proof; but when it is found 
alone , on a quarry, a tomb, or a rock, with nothing to 
show the date of its inscription, it is mere guess-work 
to identify it with some similar name in the historical 
catalogue. The precariousness of such evidence is 
shown by the readiness with which names are altered, 
and transferred from one part of the chronology to 
another. Nothing is more common with the German 
Egyptologists than to rearrange the hieroglyphics so 
as to produce a different pronunciation,—in fact a dif¬ 
ferent name,—or to slide a name a thousand years up 
or down the scale of time, for no other reason than to 
fit it better into their hypothesis. 

The name Chufu (Cheops), found in the interior 
of the Great pyramid, where neither Herodotus 
nor Manetho could have seen it, furnishes some 
confirmation of their statements, that the structure 
was raised by Cheops or Suphis. Eut the 
case is very different with the group of 
| | hieroglyphics cut on a rock in the road to 
ll I Cosseir, and found likewise on a tablet in the 
British Museum, with nothing to attest the 
date of the inscription, or the person by whom it 
was executed. Bunsen and Lepsius read this name 
Pi-ape , Pape, Apop, signifying “giant,” and identify 
it with the Phiops of Manetho’s Sixth Dynasty, the 
Apappus of Eratosthenes, and the Apepi of the Papyrus 
Sallier. Mr. Osburn, with quite as much reason, takes 
it for the shepherd king Apophis , under whom he 



THE CHRONOLOGY. 


217 


supposes Joseph to have flourished. Here are two 
kings of whose existence this name is the sole monu¬ 
mental evidence, who, if they ever lived at all, were at 
least 700 years apart. The hieroglyphics obviously 
cannot establish both; and it is quite possible that 
they belong to neither. 

It must be taken, then, for a rule, that isolated 
names are of no chronological value whatever. With 
regard to those which appear on really historical 
structures, it is still to be remembered that the 
most authenticated monuments tell nothing beyond 
the year of the king’s reign in which they were 
erected. The order in which certain kings followed 
others is shown in “successions,” more or less ex¬ 
tended, found in various places; but unless we had an 
entire list of all the kings, with the exact length of 
their reigns, it would be impossible to construct a 
chronology. Since no chain is stronger than its weak¬ 
est part, any gap which cannot be measured is fatal to 
the whole. Now, no such list was ever compiled, and 
very few successions, if any, can be dated from the 
monuments alone. The Egyptians, in short, had no 
common Era to govern their chronology, and without 
an era years are as beads without a string. 

Baron Bunsen’s scheme distributes Egyptian chro¬ 
nology into four periods:— 

1. A pre-historic age of divided government, anterior 
to the consolidation of the monarchy under Menes. To 
this period he assigns on conjecture 5442 years. 

2. An Ancient Empire , commencing with Menes 
and continuing to the end of Manetho s Twelfth 
Dynasty. This period is assumed to be identical with 
that of the thirty-eight Theban kings of Eratosthenes, 
and upon his authority it is taken at 1076 years. 




218 


ATsCIENT EGYPT. 


3. A Middle Empire, of foreign usurpation, when 
Egypt was invaded by Shepherd kings called HyJcsos, 
and divided into several governments. This period 
includes the thirteenth and four following dynasties of 
Manetho, to which Bunsen, differing from all other 
writers ancient and modern, assigns a space of929 years. 

4. A New Empire , commencing with the Eigh¬ 
teenth Dynasty of Manetho, and concluding with the 
fall of the Pharaohs and the subjugation of Egypt by 
Persia, a period of 1296 years. 

Of these four periods the last is the only one pos¬ 
sessing historical or monumental evidence, and even 
this it is found impossible to measure. Our earliest 
proved date falls (as before stated) in the reign of 
Sheshonk, b.c. 972; every previous one is arrived at 
by a backward computation from this starting point. 
It might seem to be no difficult task to add up the 
reigns of the kings before Sheshonk, so as to arrive at 
the beginning of this period. The attempt, however, 
is no sooner made than the inadequacy of Manetho’s 
materials becomes apparent. The Twenty-first Dynasty 
consists of names without a history, and the Twentieth 
has not even a name: neither, therefore, have any 
claim to the years assumed as their total. The Nine¬ 
teenth is full of confusion, occasioned, apparently, by 
some great revolution in the monarchy; and the Eigh¬ 
teenth Dynasty, though better illustrated by monu¬ 
ments than any other, is the subject of the most dis¬ 
cordant computations. Manetho has no less than four 
totals fathered upon him by his ancient commentators, 1 
varying from 263 to 393 years: of modern writers 
Bossellini adopts 348, Bunsen 217, and Poole only 
185 years. 

1 Africanus, 263; Josephus, 333; Ditto, 393; Eusebius, 348. 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


219 


The result is, that the era of the New monarchy is 
placed by Poole at b.c. 1525, by Bunsen at 1626, by 
Bosellini at 1822, and by Champollion at 1847. So 
broken and uneven are the steps by which we have to 
climb up the first flight of these chronological ruins. 
Here the staircase abruptly ends: at this point there 
is an absolute failure of every kind of reliable evidence. 
Manetho, the sole authority for the Shepherd kings, is 
differently reported by his two editors and by Josephus. 
Monuments there are none; not one has been proved 
to belong to the so-called Middle empire, and of the 
few earlier ones nothing is certain but the pyramids of 
the Pourth Dynasty, and the buildings erected at 
Thebes by the Twelfth. 

In such a state of things it would seem reasonable 
to divide Egyptian chronology into two parts, instead 
of four;—the historical monarchy commencing with 
the Eighteenth Dynasty, and the earlier governments 
of which but a few scattered notices remain. The 
facts appear to be these:—Menes represents the first 
colonization; after him Egypt was parcelled out under 
petty Pharaohs, claiming descent from his stock. Some 
of these were subjugated by Arab invaders; and 
eventually, the strangers being expelled, the separate 
states were consolidated into a monarchy under the 
Eighteenth Dynasty. On applying this simple view 
to Baron Bunsen’s chronology, it is found to collapse 
at once into admissible limits. His first and third 
periods disappear altogether; if we assume the fourth 
to begin where he places it, at 1626 b.c., and the second 
to consist of 1076 years, with thirteen of interval, we 
arrive at 2715 b.c. for the era of Menes, and the 
commencement of Egyptian chronology. This would 
coincide exactly with the dispersion from the plains of 


220 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Shinar, and the consequent settlement of Mizraim in 
Egypt . 1 It is remarkable that Mr. Stuart Poole, whose 
system is mostly based on astronomical data, fixes the 
era of Menes only two years later; he adds that a 
concurrence of astronomical evidence points to the 
same century . 2 

On examining more closely the two periods thus dis¬ 
missed from the German chronology, we find them not 
merely destitute of historical and monumental evidence, 
but opposed to some decisive testimony of both descrip¬ 
tions. All authorities agree that Menes was the first 
human ruler. In placing him in immediate succession 
to the gods and manes , Manetho must at least exclude 
any previous earthly governments . 3 To imagine a pre¬ 
vious period of petty kings would be inconsistent with 
the best established fact in the history. 

Again, the assumption that all Egypt was united into 
a monarchy from the time of Menes is equally opposed 
to the language of the Egyptian historian. After 
assigning “the first kingdom” to the dynasty of Menes, 
Manetho entitles the succeeding dynasties, Thinite , 
Memphite , Elephantine , Meracleopolitan , Disopolitan , 
or Thehan, and Xoite. It is admitted that these 
dynasties reigned at the cities enumerated, and some 
of them were beyond question contemporaneous. It 
follows that Egypt was then divided into several king¬ 
doms. Other similar states may have existed, the 

1 Gen. x., xi. 2 Diet. Bible, p. 508. 

3 Bunsen would explain the reigns of the gods as signifying a 
government of priests ruling in their names; but this conjecture is 
opposed to the uniform history of the first ages of society. We have 
seen reason to believe that idolatry was unknown in Egypt at this 
early period. Moreover, if the reigns of the gods are to be interpreted 
of a hierarchical government, what is the historical equivalent of the 
manes or ghosts who succeeded them ? 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


221 


names of whose rulers escaped the researches of 
Manetho. The Pharaohs ot those petty kingdoms, 
like the descendants of llurik in Eussia, all claimed 
to be of the great founder’s blood; like them, they 
may have owned a nominal grand prince, or, as among 
the petty rajahs of ancient India and the early chiefs 
of Britain, some king would from time to time assert 
his supremacy by force. In this manner, aided per¬ 
haps by alliance and inheritance, the preponderance 
gradually centered in the Theban line. After the 
Shepherd invasion, and the consequent shattering of 
other families, they became the head of the native 
confederacy, and on the expulsion of the Shepherds 
attained to a permanent sovereignty. 

The Middle empire is an assumption equally unten¬ 
able. As stated by Baron Bunsen, it requires us to 
believe first in a united monarchy continued in direct 
succession from Menes for 1076 years, and then in its 
overthrow by strangers, who established another in its 
place, which lasted 929 years, and then succeeded by 
the sovereignty admitted to have been erected by the 
Eighteenth Dynasty. Now, of the strangers thus 
interposed for near 1000 years between two native 
monarchies, only six names were known to Manetho, not 
one of which has been identified even with an isolated 
scutcheon. The right side of the tablet of Karnak 
exhibits a series of scutcheons, possibly forming part of 
the genealogy of Thothmes III., which Lepsius and 
Bunsen conceive must of necessity belong to the 
native dynasties of the Hyksos period; but as none of 
the names which they decipher are found in Manetho, 
the identification is imaginary. All the tablet proves 
is that Thothmes counted these names among his 
ancestors, but where or when they reigned, or whether 


222 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


they were kings at all, is matter of hypothesis. The 
same is to he said of the royal names extracted from 
the Turin Papyrus, and of a few others assigned to this 
period. They do not in the least sustain the chronology 
into which the German arrangement has thrust them; 
it would he quite as easy to construct an hypothesis 
which should refer them to a totally different age. 
Baron Bunsen claims a further support from the 
fifty-three Theban kings following the thirty-eight of 
Eratosthenes, whom Syncellus did not transcribe from 
Apollodorus. These unknown persons he appropriates 
with characteristic confidence to his “Middle empire;” 
hut Lepsius is not less certain that they are the kings 
of the “ New empire ” (from the Eighteenth to the 
Thirtieth Dynasty), and as they follow close upon 
those of the Old, Apollodorus would in that case be a 
witness to the non-existence of any interval. 

The chronology depends entirely on the question 
how far the five dynasties which Manetho numbers 
from XIII. to XVII. were or were not contempora¬ 
neous. If they were all consecutive they amount to 
above twenty centuries; and one Egyptologist, at 
least, is hold enough to compute the Middle Empire 
accordingly at 2017 years. 1 Bunsen choosing to take 
the XV., XVI., and XVII., as consecutive, and the 
XIII. and XIV. as contemporaneous, makes the total 
period 929 years. He mentions another view by which 
the XIII. and XVII. would form the consecutive 
measures of time, and the other three be contemporary, 
reducing the period to 517 years. Mr. Poole’s arrange¬ 
ment lowers it below 400. It is but to take a further 
step in the same direction, and reckon the whole five 
contemporaneous with the XII. and some earlier 
1 Vicomte Bouge, in Bunsen, ii. 450. 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


223 


dynasties, and the Hyksos period disappears from the 
chronology altogether. Manetho himself, who, accord¬ 
ing to Josephus, computed the duration of their power 
at 511 years,states that atthe sametime native dynasties 
were reigning in Upper Egypt. He gives no authority 
for adding on that period, or any other, to the Egyptian 
chronology. 

A similar invasion occurred within the range of 
modern history, when the Russian states were sub¬ 
jugated by the Mongol Tartars, who more than once 
took Moscow; and having established themselves 
in the Golden Horde on the frontier of the empire, 
put the native princes to tribute for a period of 
more than 200 years. The Mongols, however, have 
no existence in Russian chronology , because the succes¬ 
sion was continued through the tributary princes 
down to Ivan the Great, by whom the Tartar yoke was 
cast off, and the several principalities were consolidated 
under the Muscovite sovereignty. 1 In like manner 
the present question is not how long the Shepherds 
reigned, but whether their reigns intervened between 
the end of the Twelfth and the beginning of the 
Eighteenth Dynasty. 

To accept the chronology of Baron Bunsen, we must 
recognise a period as long as the interval between 
Alfred the Great and Queen Victoria, without .a single 

( fact or monument, a name or a grave , to attest its ex¬ 
istence. “ Improbable and unexampled (he admits it 
to be) that a foreign people should maintain themselves 
in Egypt for nine or even five centuries, and have lived 
so like barbarians that not a single monument of theirs 
can be pointed out.” But this is far from stating the 
| entire marvel. Hot only is no Hyksos monument re- 
1 “ Russia, Ancient and Modern," p. 85. 






224 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


maining, but none belonging to the native princes their 
tributaries. Not one pyramid, obelisk, temple, palace, 
or tomb, nor a fragment of one, can be found for the 
whole period. Not that Egyptian art had as yet no 
existence, for the works of the Fourth and Twelfth 
Dynasties attest its progress up to the time in ques¬ 
tion. Not that it was then suddenly and permanently 
quenched under the inroad of the barbarians, for Bun¬ 
sen himself observes that “ at the end of this period, 
which is longer perhaps than the duration of the histo¬ 
rical life of most modern people, the old Egyptian 
empire comes forth again in renovated youth, and in 
fact, as the monuments prove, with its national pecu¬ 
liarities, its religion, its language, its writing, its art, 
in precisely the same condition as if no interruption 
had occurred, or, at most, nothing beyond the tempo¬ 
rary inroad of some Bedouin robbers.” 1 What, then, 
could have occasioned the long paralysis ? and— 
greater wonder still—what could have suddenly re¬ 
moved it after nine centuries of lifelessness ? We can 
conceive of Hip van Winkle falling asleep, but after 
sleeping even for twenty years it is very hard to 
imagine how he came to awake! In the words just 
quoted, Baron Bunsen has himself pronounced the 
doom of his Middle empire. Where no interruption 
is apparent it is reasonable to suppose that none 
occurred. Where the evidence is of “ nothing beyond 
the temporary inroad of some Bedouin robber,” the 
verdict must be that nothing else took place. 

The witnesses, however, are not all of a negative 
kind. The monuments contain some positive testi¬ 
mony which this author has singularly disregarded. 
The English authorities have long been agreed, from 
1 Bunsen, ii. 418. 



THE CHRONOLOGY. 


225 


comparing the Tablet of Abydos with other monu¬ 
ments, that the names which there immediately precede 
the Eighteenth Dynasty are those of the Twelfth, 
without any break or interval whatever. This dis¬ 
covery, first made by Colonel Eelix and the Duke of 
Northumberland, andfully established by Dr.Hinckes, 1 
led Sir Gardner Wilkinson to pronounce the dynas¬ 
ties intervening in Manetho to be either interpolated 
or contemporary. The fact was long obstinately dis¬ 
puted by continental critics; but Bunsen now an¬ 
nounces it as an important discovery made by Lepsius 
in 1840, that the Tablet of Abydos “ jumps over ” the 
Shepherd period, and exhibits the scutcheon of Amosis, 
the first sovereign of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in 
immediate sequence to that of Ammenemes, the last 
of the Twelfth. This admitted fact disposes for ever of 
the German chronology. The writer could hardly be 
in earnest who suggested that, should the Turks, be 
expelled from Constantinople, and their dominions be 
annexed to modern Greece, King Otho might choose 
to inscribe himself as successor to the last of the 
Constantines, in superb indifference to the intervening 
Mahmouds, Selims, and Mustaphas, just as Charles 
II. follows his father among the kiugs of England, 
without noticing the Commonwealth. 2 The hypo¬ 
thesis is sufficiently bold ; but, granting the required 
stretch of regal obliviousness, can it be imagined that 
all 'physical evidences of the Ottoman empire would 
disappear before the imperial edict ? would “ the cloud- 
capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn 
temples,” melt into thin air, and leave not a minaret 
or a grave to tell of twelve centuries of Moslem occu¬ 
pation ? 

1 Trans. R.I.A., xix., pp. 2, 68. 

Q 


2 Kenrick, ii. 196, 



226 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Whatever, then, may ha\e been the nature or 
duration of the Shepherd invasion, we must concur in 
the opinion which assigns it to a period anterior to 
the close of the Twelfth Dynasty. The Theban 
kings whom Manetho counted in his Thirteenth and 
Seventeenth Dynasties are wholly unknown. In those 
distracted times there may well have been several 
chiefs exercising or claiming authority in the Thebaid, 
each of whom, with a writer like Manetho, would 
go to swell the number of royal dynasties; but such 
materials cannot justify the interposing of a large 
chronological interval in the face of the authentic 
tablet which connects the last ruler of the Twelfth 
Dynasty with the first of the Eighteenth. 

Attempts have been often made to correct the 
chronology from the data supplied by the astro¬ 
nomical paintings on the ceilings of some of the 
temples. The sudden overthrow of the speculations 
based on the zodiac of Denderah is well known; 
Mr. Poole’s investigation of a similar monument in 
the Eamesseion may possibly be deserving of more 
attention. To him belongs the discovery of the two 
great Egyptian cycles, to which he has given the names 
of the tropical cycle , and the panegyrical year. The 
first is defined by the coincidence of the new moon 
with the vernal equinox ; it is believed to be comme¬ 
morated by an inscription in the reign of Amasis, 
of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, which the calculations of 
Professor Airey assign to the year n.c. 507. A similar 
coincidence is supposed to be found in the reign 
of Amenemha II., the third ruler of the Twelfth 
Dynasty, who would thus be fixed to the year b.c. 2005. 1 
The panegyrical year, like the prophetic year of Holy 
1 Horse Egyptiacse and Bible Dictionary. 


THE CHRONOLOGY. 


227 


Scripture, consisted of a year for a day; and by reckon¬ 
ing two of these from Amenemha to Menes, Mr. Poole 
arrives at b.c. 2717, as the era of the first mortal king. 

On the other hand, Sir GL C. Lewis, after examining 
all that is known or conjectured of Egyptian astronomy^ 
concludes that the science was in too rudimentary a 
condition to be of any value whatever in determining 
the chronology. Eejecting altogether the theories 
which rely upon its aid, he comes to the conclusion 
that there is no sufficient ground for placing any of the 
buildings and great works in Egypt at a date anterior 
to the building of Solomon’s Temple, b.c. 1012. 1 
Mr. Poole himself admits that we have not attained to 
a sufficient knowledge of Egyptian astronomy to rely 
upon it in the determination of the chronology. 2 

On the whole, then, it appears that Ancient Egypt 
possesses no evidence, historical, monumental, or astro¬ 
nomical, that can establish a chronology independent 
of its connexion with sacred or classical history. It 
comes into contact with the Scripture chronology in 
the reign of Shishak, b.c. 972, and with that of 
Greece under Psamaticus b.c. 670; before those dates 
all is conjectural. In spite of Baron Bunsen’s confi¬ 
dent assertions, there is not a shadow of proof that 
any human being existed in Egypt earlier than four 
centuries after the Flood. The Great pyramid pro¬ 
bably belongs to the Fourth Dynasty, and may he as 
old as 2000 b.c. ; while the earliest monuments of 
Thebes are those of the Twelfth. There is monumental 
evidence that this Dynasty was succeeded by the 
Eighteenth. Everything else is pure conjecture. No 
date is really ascertained, or can be ascertained, for 
any king before Psamaticus, save by connecting him 
1 Astronomy of the Ancients, ch. v. and vii. 2 Bible Diet., 505.. 


228 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


with the Scripture history; and anterior to Shishak, 
all such connexions are an open field for hypothesis. 
The Pharaohs who treated with Abraham, Joseph, and 
Moses, cannot be certainly identified with any Mane- 
thonian or monumental ruler. This is not surprising 
when we consider that the fortunes of Israel, however 
interesting to the student of Holy Scripture, would be 
of little moment in the eyes of the children of Amun. 
They would not erect monuments to Abraham or Jacob, 
nor perpetuate in hieroglyphics the national humilia¬ 
tion of the Exodus. Much incidental confirmation is 
derived to Holy Scripture from the study of the 
monuments, and no single fact has yet been established 
to its disparagement; but in respect of chronology it is 
the Bible which must arrange the Egyptian antiquities, 
and not the antiquities that can for a moment correct 
the Bible. 

Of the chronological schemes adopted by Egypto¬ 
logists, Mr. Poole’s appear to be generally the best 
supported. It is at variance, however, with the 
Tablet of Abydos, in allowing an interval of nearly 400 
years between the Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties. 
By withdrawing this interval, the accession of the 
latter is brought into accordance with the conclusions 
of Champollion. The table on the next page is con¬ 
structed from Mr. Poole’s with this emendation, and is 
proposed as in some degree approaching to the truth; 
we reserve, however, the important qualification that 
all is uncertain, and for that reason substitute round 
numbers in lieu of figures which might give an 
appearance of accuracy where none can be fairly pre¬ 
tended to. 


THE CHKONOLOGY 


229 



DYNASTIES BEFORE SHISHAK. 











230 


CHAPTEE XL 
the rnARAons or mempiiis. 

Reign of the Gods—First Dynasty—Menes, Osiris, or ilixrmim—Fnhitons end — 
Athothis, Thoth, and llorus—Division of the Colony—Second and Third Dynasties 
—Fourth — Pyramids — Chufu — Kneph Chufn — Shafra — Mycerinus — First 
Idolaters—Legend at Sais—Brick Pyramid—Fifth and Sixth Dynasties— 
Nitocris—Wife of Psamotions—Eleventh Dynasty — End of Manetho's First Book 
— Inaccuracies—Visit of Abraham. 

If any faith is to be given to the dynasties of 
Manetho, “ the gods were the first to exercise power 
among the Egyptians: next the royal authority de¬ 
volved by continued succession, in the space of 1300 
years, to Bytis.” Bytis is fixed upon as the first of 
the priests who are pretended to have governed Thebes 
in the name of its patron deity Arnun. By Manetho 
himself, however, the gods are clearly declared to 
have ruled in person; and Bytis was a distant suc¬ 
cessor. In another place he relates that, “ after the 
gods, reigned demigods for 1255 years, then other 
kings for 1817 years, then other kings of Memphis 
for 1790 years, afterward other ten kings of This 
for 350 years. Then followed a dominion of manes} 
demigods , for 5813 years.” 

It is out of this fabulous jumble that Baron Bunsen 
proposes to extract the “ prehistoric ” ages, which are 
to carry back the Egyptian annals to a period beyond 
the Mosaic creation. Commentators less credulous 
1 Eusebius inserts tlie conjunction “and” between these words. 


TJIK PHARAOHS OF MEMPHIS. 


231 


conceive the whole to be a manufacture of the later 
priests, with a view of eclipsing the mythology of their 
Greek visitors. Their predecessors were altogether igno¬ 
rant of these divine dynasties ; nothing seemed more 
ridiculous to the priests who conversed with Herodotus, 
than the notion that any deity had ever lived upon 
earth. They took him into their temples, and showed 
him a series of 345 wooden statues of high priests, 
each of whom was “ a man, the son of a man.” 1 The 
pretension of the Greeks to be descended from the 
gods seemed to them both impious and absurd. As 
those pretensions, however, became better known in 
Egypt, it was thought a point of honour to claim 
an ancestry at least as ancient and illustrious; and 
Manetho, avowedly writing to correct the impressions 
produced by Herodotus, either found or fabricated 
the supernatural dynasties which some would now 
adduce against the chronology of Holy Scripture. The 
only point deserving a moment’s attention in these 
fables is the testimony they supply to an early 
tradition, that some of the persons worshipped as 
i f deities were really bora and reigned on the banks of 
the Nile. Such was no doubt the popular belief'; 
when divested of its mythical colouring, it simply 
means that the first rulers were afterwards deified. 

“After the mane3 and demigods is reckoned the 
first kingdom (or, according to Eusebius, the ‘ first 
/ dynasty’), consisting of eight kings, the first of whom 
was Menes the Thinite: he reigned sixty-two years, 
and perished through being torn to pieces by a hippo¬ 
potamus.” Eusebius adds that u he excelled in the 
glory of his administration, and that all the reigning 

1 Herod., ii. 143: “A piromis, «on of a ptromu, t.e., rami, 
“ man," with the article pi. 


232 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


families which followed were his descendants.” That 
Menes was the first mortal king is one of the few points 
in which all the traditions are agreed. Manetho has 
involved him in a mythical atmosphere by introducing 
him as the successor of supernatural rulers unknown 
in the time of Herodotus. The name first appears on 
the monuments at the head of a procession of 
statues on the walls of the Ramesseion at 
Thebes. It signifies “Rounder,” and is directly 
connected with the city of Memphis, which is 
expressed in the hieroglyphics by two of the 
same signs followed by a pyramid, 1 A ^ . 
In like manner the traditional founder of Rome was 
named Romulus. 

Menes is probably the same with Osiris; if regarded 
at all as an historical person, he was most likely Miz- 
raim; who, entering Egypt by the Isthmus of Suez, and 
planting his followers along the banks of the river, 
would naturally fix his capital at the apex of the Delta. 
Memphis, however, seems not to have been the earliest 
settlement. The places first named in the Bible are 
Zoan and On (Heliopolis), both nearer to the Asiatic 
frontier, and consequently in the path of the primitive 
immigrants. We read that “ Zoan was built seven years 
after Hebron” 2 —a notice apparently meant to intimate 
that these were two of the earliest settlements of the 
children of Ham. It is very possible that both were 
founded by Mizraim. The “ field of Zoan ” is the 
Psalmist’s designation of Egypt. 3 Memphis is not 

1 The lute signifies “good:” Menes is the “settler:” Memphis, 
“ the good settlement.” 

2 Numb. xiii. 22. 

3 Psa. lxxviii. 12, 43. This is one of the “psalms of Asaph,” 
which are probably of various dates. Mr. Jebb ascribes it to a 
contemporary of David. 





THE PHAHAOHS OF MEMPHIS. 


233 


named till the time of the prophets, and then in con¬ 
junction with Zoan. 1 

Zoan w r as the same with Tanis , which gave its name 
to the branch of the Nile next the Pelusiac, at the month 
of which it is still represented by the ruins of San. 
By some authorities Menes is called the Tanite , 2 a 
designation more intelligible, in connexion with Miz- 
raim, than Thinite. Eratosthenes terms him the 
Theban , showing the desire of all the royal houses to 
trace their lineage to the same revered progenitor. No 
mention of TJpper Egypt, however, occurs in the Book 
of Genesis; if Mizraim had any connexion with this 
region, it must be sought in the legend which repre¬ 
sented Menes as being torn to pieces by a hippopota¬ 
mus. The story wears a fabulous aspect, and might 
be only a mythical way of disposing of the great 
founder, analogous to the carrying up of Bomulus 
into heaven. Still it is not impossible that such an 
accident may have happened in a hunting expedi¬ 
tion ; in that case it might he the foundation of the 
reverence in which Ahydos was held as the burying 
place of Osiris. The later fabulists were dissatisfied 
with so ignoble a termination of the great founder’s 
life. In their hands the uncouth beast became the spirit 
of evil; the first king was elevated into the great 
God; and, as every royal family laid claim to his 
blood, every temple was furnished with a relic of his 
corpse. 

Menes was succeeded by his son Athothis, “ a 
pupil of the Muses,” to whom Sanconiatho ascribes 
the invention of letters. He is probably, therefore, 
the person deified as Thoth; while, as the son of 
Osiris, he was also the god Horus. According to 
1 Isa. xix. 13; Hosea ix. 6. 2 Osburn, p. 182. 



234 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Manetho, “ lie built tbe palace at Memphis, and wrote 
the anatomical books, being a physician.” The sacred 
writings in the temples all bore the appellation of 
“books of Hermes” ( i.e ., Thoth) ; they doubtless in¬ 
cluded some medical treatises; but there is no pretence 
for ascribing to them so early a date. According to 
the Maneros ballad, Athothis came to an untimely 
end like his father, and, in the Osirian legend, his 
mother Isis was the involuntary cause of his death. 
These tragical circumstances may have contributed to 
perpetuate the remembrance of the first two monarchs 
in the affections of the nation. Their names took a 
deep hold of tradition, and passed into the ranks of 
the gods, while those of their successors were forgotten. 
For this is all that is known or conjectured of the 
u dynasty of Menes.” Manetho subjoins six more 
kings, but they do not agree either in name or number 
with the list of Eratosthenes. 

The colony was now divided into separate states 
under different rulers. A Second Dynasty arose at 
This, while the family of Menes was succeeded at 
Memphis by a Third. The names in Manetho and 
Erathosthenes are still discordant; and no events are 
recorded beyond a few puerile or fabulous notices. 
Bunsen labours hard to identify one or two of the 
Third Dynasty with some of the royal scutcheons 
hitherto unappropriated; but the names have a sus¬ 
picious resemblance to those of later kings, and 
Lepsius acknowledges that he has found nothing cer¬ 
tain before the Fourth Dynasty;—the age 
of the pyramids of Ghizeh. 

The first of these structures, according to 
Manetho, was built by Suphis I., whom Eratos¬ 
thenes calls Saophis, and Herodotus Cheops. 



THE PHABAOHS OE MEMPHIS. 


235 


Some hieroglyphics in the adjacent tombs 
read Ohufu, which is nearly the same 
sound; another group in the pyramid itself, 

Kneph Chufu, has been thought to denote 
his successor Suphis II., the Sensuphis of 
Eratosthenes. These historians seem to 
place them considerably earlier than the time of 
Cheops, as calculated by Herodotus; but we have 
already seen that no reliance can be placed on the 
chronology of the Egyptian priests. Neither does 
the pyramid itself afford the means of determining 
its date further than what may be conjectured from 
the absence of idolatrous sculptures, and the astro¬ 
nomical argument derived from the passage being 
ascertained to point to the pole star 2000 b>. c. Hero¬ 
dotus further tells us that Cheops and his successor 
reigned 106 years, during which the temples were 
closed, while the people were grievously oppressed 
by forced labours in the quarries and at the works: 
on this account their funeral rites were either pre¬ 
vented or clandestinely performed, and their names 
were consigned to perpetual odium. This statement 
renders it probable that the two kings were of a 
different faith from the priests by whom such legends 
were related. Herodotus adds that local tradition 
ascribed the Great pyramid to the Shepherd Philition, 
who then fed his flocks in the adjacent plain. The 
absence of the sculpture and ornament universally 
found in other Egyptian sepulchres induces General 
Vyse, also, to refer the pyramid to that favourite 
resort under every difficulty—a Shepherd king. The 
conjecture might be supported from the meaning 
of the name Suphis, which Eratosthenes translates 
Komastes, “the hairy one.” We find the prophet 





236 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Elijah described by a similar epithet, “ an hairy man, 1 
or literally a “ lord of hairand the long shaggy locks 
and bushy beard of the Tishhite were common features 
among the Arabs, whereas the Egyptian kings and 
priests wore little or no hair. The pyramid, however, 
seems to he too intimately connected with Memphite 
ideas to he assigned to a foreign invader. The name 
of Kneph, too, must he allowed to establish an Egyptian 
origin, though not necessarily an idolatrous one. 

On the other hand, Lepsius has discovered the name 
of Chufu in the grottos of Beni Hassan, as well as in 
graves at Memphis, which, if they can he supposed to 
he contemporary monuments, would reduce his era 
within the idolatrous period. On the whole, it seems 
more probable that these inscriptions belong to a 
later age, and that the builder of the Great pyramid 
was really so long anterior to the priests of Phthah 
that they knew nothing of him beyond the name. 

After Cheops six rulers are found in Africanus, 
whose names are omitted by Eusebius as having done 
nothing worthy of mention. It is remarkable that 
neither of the Egyptian historians notice the Second 
pyramid, which, according to the Greek writers, was 
built by Cephren or Chabryis, the brother or son of 
Cheops. This tradition is supposed to be con¬ 
firmed by the discovery of the name Shafra in 
an adjacent tomb, where he is spoken of as 
“the great one of the pyramid;” but the 
name is of quite a different order from Chufu, 
and Manetho’s Suphis II. has been already taken 
possession of for Kneph Chufu. Shafra is obviously 
connected with the worship of Ea, and undoubtedly 
belongs to the idolatrous period. 

1 2 Kings i. 8. 






THE PHAEAOHS OE MEMPHIS. 


237 


The same remark applies to Mycerinus, whom 
Herodotus reports to be the founder of the Third pyra¬ 
mid. His hieroglyphics, reading Menkaru-ra , 
and even a portion of his remains, are supposed 
to have been discovered in the sepulchral 
vault; yet Manetho attributes this pyramid 
to Nitocris, and catalogues Mencheres among 
those who did nothing worthy of mention. 

His name is interpreted by Eratosthenes Heliodotus , 
“ given to the sunthis agrees with the hieroglyphic, 
but there is no evidence that the latter was a contem¬ 
poraneous inscription. That some traditions ascribed 
the pyramid to a woman is mentioned by Herodotus, 
and they were perhaps the most correct, though the 
priests whom he followed gave it to Mycerinus. This 
monarch was extolled as a model of piety; he re¬ 
opened the temples which had been closed for more 
than a century, and zealously supported their services. 
In accordance with this character we find the hatchet 
appended to his name, which denoted divine honours, 
and in the ritual of the dead he is invoked as a god. 
Mycerinus, then, was the first king traditionally cele¬ 
brated as an idolater; if the tradition could be relied 
on, it might be concluded that the votaries of the new 
rites were the authors of the violence done to the 
sepulchres of the Suphises, and of the odium which 
clung to their memory. 

The whole story of Mycerinus and his pyramid is 
involved with that of Nitocris, which is presently 
to be considered. Though the priests of Memphis 
chose to adopt this king as the champion of their 
gods, it would appear that his zeal was by no 
means crowned with the expected reward. He was 
warned by ^he famous oracle of Buto that his reign 





*238 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


was to terminate in seven years; on which he loudly 
reproached the gods that his predecessors, who were 
their enemies and oppressors of the people, had each 
enjoyed a long reign, whilst he, a pious and merciful 
king, was to be cut off with so disproportionate a 
career. The oracle replied that the fates had decreed 
a tyranny of 150 years upon Egypt, and his pre¬ 
decessors had been their instruments in executing 
the sentence; but he himself was to be removed on 
account of his virtues, in order that others might 
complete the destined punishment. 1 Mycerinus was so 
little grateful for the distinction that he endeavoured 
to “ convict the oracle of falsehood ” by passing his 
nights in revelry, and thereby doubling the number 
of his days. 

In spite of this monarch’s exalted character, tradi¬ 
tion imputed to him a moral depravity which gave 
little offence to the priests who celebrated his religious 
zeal. A magnificent chamber at Sais contained the 
gilt figure of a heifer said to enclose the mummy of 
Mycerinus’s daughter, before which incense was 
burnt by day and brilliant lamps were kept burning 
through the night. The heifer shown to Herodotus 
was no doubt sacred to Isis or xlthor, and his guide 
was probably hoaxing the Greek historian. Yet the 
Sais legend is remarkable, as in some degree supporting 
the account which attributed the Third pyramid to 
the wife of Psamaticus, whose court was in that city. 
Manetho also repudiates its ascription to Mencheres of 
Memphis, when he gives that king a reign of sixty- 
three years without a single fact worthy of mention. 

The giver of the oracle which removed Mycerinus, in 
order to complete the chastisement of the Egyptians, 
1 Herod, ii. 133. 


THE PHARAOHS OE MEMPHIS. 


239 


was clearly aware that his immediate successors cared 
as little for the idols as those who went before him. 
Of their names or actions nothing is either known or 
surmised. According to Herodotus, Mycerinus was 
followed by Asychis, a celebrated legislator, who passed 
an ordinance permitting money to be borrowed on 
the corpse of a deceased father, provided that the 
debtor was not himself to be interred until this strange 
description of post obit had been paid off. He adds that 
Asychis erected a pyramid of brick with an inscription 
to this effect, “ Compare me not with the stone 
pyramids, for I am as superior to them as Jove 
(Kneph) is to the other gods. They stuck poles into 
the lake, and made bricks out of the mud, which ad¬ 
hered to them; thus was I made.” This inscription has 
not been found; probably it never existed: but Sir 
Gardner Wilkinson was inclined to think one of the 
brick pyramids of Dashoor might be that of Asychis, 
though he was unable to discover the alleged superi¬ 
ority of construction. Mr. Perring has since pro¬ 
nounced it decidedly superior to every other pyramid 
except the Third, and this might in some degree con¬ 
firm the statement of Herodotus; but his succession 
differs so widely from that of Manetho, that where all 
is without evidence little credence can be given to 
either. 

The Pourth Dynasty was succeeded at Memphis by 
the Sixth, the Fifth apparently constituting a contem¬ 
porary royal house at Elephantine. The catalogue 
is still merely a nominal one, unsupported by facts or 
evidences. Of the first king, Othoes, we are told 
that he was killed. by his guards; of the fourth, 
Phiops, that he ascended the throne at six years 
of age, and reigned till he was a hundred. Eratos- 


240 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


thenes gravely determines the reign to have lasted 
one hundred years “less one hour!” Lepsius and 
Bunsen would identify this centenarian Pharaoh with 
a royal scutcheon, read Pipi and Apappus; which 
others take for Apophis the Shepherd king; but all 
are equally without evidence. The Pharaohs are still 
but a procession of names;—spectral kings, who come 
like shadows and so depart. 

The last of the dynasty wears at first sight an 
appearance of greater reality. This was the famous 
Nitocris, “the handsomest woman of her time, of a 
florid (red-white) complexion and flaxen hair.” She 
mounted the throne in succession to her husband, 1 
who was murdered in his palace. Having invited the 
assassins to a grand banquet, she caused the waters of 
the Nile to be admitted by a subterraneous passage, and 
destroyed them all, 2 after which she plunged into a 
pit of ashes and put an end to her life. To this 
queen Manetho attributes the erection of the Third 
pyramid. The modern Arabs inform us that she still 
watches near in the shape of a beautiful and coura¬ 
geous woman. 

The Arabs are perhaps as much to be relied 
upon as Manetho, if these are indeed the words of 
Manetho and not of his editor. They express the 
tradition alluded to by Herodotus, which ascribed 
the Third pyramid to a woman; but later Greek 
authors ascertained this woman to be the wife of 
Psamaticus, who reigned at Sais some 2000 years 
later than the era of the Sixth Dynasty. Their 

1 Herodotus says her brother , which is inconsistent with her 
foreign complexion. In Eratosthenes it is her husband. 

2 The notion of a subterraneous communication with the Nile was 
entertained also of the Great pyramid. 


THE PHARAOHS OF MEMPHIS. 241 

account, that she was a Greek slave, whom Psamaticus 
married for her beauty, sufficiently identifies her with 
“ the ruddy cheeks and flaxen hair” of Manetho; an 
inscription, in fact, still extant, gives the name of 
Nitocris to the Queen of Psamaticus. 1 No other 
Nitocris is known to the monuments; and Lepsius 
has discovered that Psamaticus himself assumed the 
name of Mencheres. Baron Bunsen’s enthusiastic 
tribute to the “ veritable remains of the revered 
Menkaru-ra” is, therefore, in all probability, entirely 
thrown away. The pyramid is brought down to the 
sixth century b. c., and if Manetho has not been in¬ 
terpolated by his editors, he stands convicted of trans¬ 
ferring Nitocris and her monument from the Twenty- 
sixth to the Sixth Dynasty, in order to magnify the 
antiquity of his country. 

After this imaginary Nitocris all is confusion in the 
Memphite succession. Manetho’s Seventh Dynasty 
consists of seventy kings, reigning each but a single 
day. Then follows an Eighth, composed of twenty- 
seven nameless rulers, who reigned 156 years. These 
were probably thrown in at the close of the monarchy 
to make up the period, or the number, assigned by 
tradition. Meantime other royal houses had taken 
root at Heracleopolis 2 and Thebes. 3 Of the former 
we are only told that the first sovereign went mad, 
and was killed by a crocodile;—a story obviously 
invented from the persecution with which the animal 
was visited in that particular district. Of the Theban 
line, the only record is that it consisted of sixteen 
kings who reigned for forty-three years. 

Here Manetho terminated his first book, summing 
up all the reigns he had been able to discover, 

1 See p. 90. 2 Manetho’a Ninth. 3 Manetho’s Eleventh. 


242 


ANCIENT EGTPT. 


or invent, into a grand total of 2300 years and 
seventy days. It is clear that many of these Pha¬ 
raohs reigned contemporaneously in different parts 
of Egypt; this chronology, therefore, is like adding 
up the several reigns attributed to English, Scotch, 
Irish, and Welsh kings into one total, as the duration 
of a British monarchy before the union. Moreover 
the sum given is not the true total of the numbers in 
either text. Bunsen’s elaborate manipulation results 
in reducing it by more than a half; and if the truth 
could he ascertained, it would probably require an 
abatement of some centuries more. 

Whatever period of time may be really due to this 
first period of Egyptian history, its annals are as 
barren and vague as those of Britain before the 
invasion of Julius Caesar. The Eirst and perhaps the 
Second pyramids were erected at Memphis, as Stone¬ 
henge was upon the Wiltshire Downs; Chufu is 
scarcely more historical than Arthur, and the chro¬ 
nology is as hopeless in the one case as in the other. 
We might adopt the sarcastic remark of Sir George 
Lewis, that it would be quite as important to trace 
the descent of a breed of crocodiles, if there were 
not reason to believe that one of these obscure rulers 
was the Pharaoh who entertained Abraham during his 
brief visit into Lower Egypt. Africanus calls him 
Bamessemenes—a name apparently connected with the 
land of Bameses, an appellation of Goshen j 1 but no 
such king has been found in Manetho. Bameses, the 
city of the sun, seems to be connected with On and 
Heliopolis. It does not follow, however, that the 
country bore this name in the time of Abraham. In 
all probability, the father of the faithful did not ex- 
1 Gen. xlvii. 11. 


THE PHABAOHS OF MEMPHIS. 


243 


tend his journey beyond the district where his flocks 
and herds would find the pasturage which they needed. 
Some writers are of opinion that Lower Egypt was 
already in the possession of the Shepherd kings, one of 
whom they suppose to have been Abraham’s host. This 
hypothesis might be very necessary if the native Pha¬ 
raohs were shown to he idolaters. But of this there is 
no evidence, and to Moses the Shepherd kings are as 
unknown as to the monuments. Lower Egypt seems, 
at this time, to have been more in danger from the 
rival Pharaohs of Thebes than from the strangers who 
play so prominent a part in the speculations of modern 
theorists. It was from the capital of Upper Egypt 
that its first rulers were overrun; and there is nothing 
improbable in the conjecture, that the idolatry which 
there attained strength was the leading agency in the 


invasion. 


244 



CHAPTEB XII. 

THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 

Ethiopian Connexion — Amenemha — XI. and XII. Dynasties—Monuments Idola¬ 
trous — Kings’ Names—Two Shields—Standard Name—Synopsis of XII. Dynasty 
— Civilization — Epitaphs — Sesortasen — Sesostris — Joseph's Pharaoh—Painting 
in Nahar's Tomb—Not a Shepherd King — Joseph’s History confirmed — His 
Administration—The Church’s Messenger—Jacob brought down — Goshen — In¬ 
troduced to Pharaoh—Blessing on Egypt — Jacob’s Burial — Joseph’s Death — 
Mceris—Labyrinth—Story of the Crocodile—Shepherd Invasion — Their Expulsion 
— Contradictions—Probable truth. 

Thebes, to which the priests of Amun assigned a 
foundation anterior to the days of the demigods and 
manes , makes its first appearance in an historical form 
with the Eleventh Dynasty of Manetho, when it is 
supposed to have succeeded to the power of This. As 
the city of Amun, it was the centre and capital of the 
Egyptian idolatry; and its connexion with Ethiopia 
renders it not improbable that its rites were partly 
derived from the interior of Africa, where a fetichism 
akin to the animal worship is still in existence. The 
first ruler whose name is preserved was Ammenemes, 
in the hieroglyphics Amenemha (beloved of Amun). 
He appears in Manetho as the last of the Eleventh 
Dynasty, but was more probably the founder of the 
Twelfth, the Eleventh representing his unknown ances¬ 
tors. Manetho’s second volume opened with the 
Twelfth Dynasty, and the tombs in the grottos of 
Beni Hassan seem to be the earliest monuments above 
Memphis. They offer a decided contrast to the plain 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 


245 


unsculptured pyramids, leaving no question that the 
Osirian worship was then fully matured in the Thebaid, 
and society already organized on the elaborate con¬ 
stitution of later days. 

One of the first things that strikes us in this 
dynasty is the method of expressing the king’s name. 
In the pyramids and tombs of the earlier Pharaohs, 
the name was expressed by a few 'phonetic characters, 
enclosed in a single ring which is called the cartouche, 
shield, or scutcheon; thus Menes, Chufu, Pipi. The 
Theban Pharaohs adopted two shields, surmounted by 
insignia after a fashion resembling modem heraldic 
bearings. Over the first shield stood the bee and 
plant of Upper and Lower Egypt, usually read “ king 
of an obedient people,” but used, like the crown above 
the royal arms, simply as the badge of sovereignty. 
The shield below bears invariably the sun’s disk at the 
top, with some other symbolical signs making the 
prenomen assumed by the monarch on coming to the 
throne; such as “ guardian of truth,” “ beloved of 
Amun,” “light of the world,” etc. The second 
shield was surmounted by the goose and sun (read 
Si-ra, “ son of the sun”), forming, as it were, the family 
crest of the Pharaohs. The shield itself was inscribed 
with the king’s proper name 'phonetically expressed, 
and occasionally some other signs, serving as a “ dif¬ 
ference” to distinguish him from others of the same 
name. 

There was yet a third blazonry called the “ standard 
name,” answering to the device assumed by the 
knights of chivalry. This was a group of symbolical 
signs embroidered on a banner, and surmounted by the 
royal insignia,—the crowned hawk of Horus, the asp, 
and the winged sun. The standard of Eameses the 



246 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Great displayed a bull witb the image of the 
goddess Thmei, reading “ the strong bull beloved of 
truth .” 1 

The rulers of the Twelfth Dynasty are distinguished 
in Manetho by names having various Greek termina¬ 
tions ; on the monuments they are all called either 
Amun-em-ha, or Osirtasen, which latter Lepsius prefers 
to read Sesortasen. The following is Bunsen’s synopsis 
of the whole dynasty: 2 — 


MANETHO. 

ERATOSTHENES. 

MONUMENTS. 

Yrs. 

I. Ammenemes, 

Yrs. 

xxxii. Ammenemes . 26 

Amun-em-ha (i.) 

the last of the 
11th Dynasty. 16 
ii. Sesonchosis 

xxxiii. Stammenernes 23 

Sesortasen (i.) 

his son. 46 

hi. Ammenemes . 38 
rv. Sesostris 48 

xxxiv. Sistochermes. 55 

Amun-em-ha (ri.) 
Sesortasen (ii.) 

v. Lacharis, La- 
baris or La- 

mares. 8 

vi. Amares . 8 

vii. Ammenemes . 8 

j>xxxv. Mares. 43 

Sesortasen (hi.) 

Amun-em-ha (in*) 

Amun-em-ha (rv.) 

Viii. Scemiophris 

his sister .... 4 

Years 176 

Years 147 

. 


According to the authorities adduced by Bunsen, 
there were always two kings, generally an Amenemha 
and a Sesortasen, on the throne at the same time. 
Sesortasen I. was co-regent with the first two Amen- 
emhas; Sesortasen II. with the second Amenemha and 
with Sesortasen III.; while the latter had the third 

1 The title of bull (lord of the herd) was assumed by ancient 
chiefs in the field, as that of shepherd designated the rule of a peace¬ 
ful king. 

2 Some Egyptologists give the kings of this dynasty to the 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth, which Manetho has left without names. 



















TIIE PHAKAOHS OF THEBES. 


247 


Amenemha for his colleague towards the end of a 
long reign. 

If this dynasty reigned, as is generally supposed, 
two thousand years before Christ, the progress already 
made in the arts and institutions of civilized life is 



quite astonishing. The above cut presents a copy 
of a tablet in the British Museum, which formed the 
slab over the entrance of a tomb where a “chief of 
the prophets” lay interred. It represents his son and 


































248 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


successor in ceremonial dress, with the staff called 
Pat (the symbol of consecration) in one hand and a 
wand in the other, performing adoration to Osiris. 
The epitaph is translated by Mr. Osburn as follows: 
“ Act of adoration to Osiris, lord of Amenti, the be¬ 
holder of just and good works , 1 the great god, lord of 
Abydos, from the military chief president over the 
prophets, Sebeksen. The military chief presiding over 
the prophets Eneniotf, his son who loves him, who has 
enthroned him in his heart, has made (by this monu¬ 
ment) the name of his father to live in Egypt. The 
chief president of the prophets, Sebeksen, born of the 
lady Obeb.” 

To the same period belongs the elaborate tomb¬ 
stone engraved on the opposite page. At the top is the 
winged globe, the emblem of Horhat , the good genius. 
The inscription in two horizontal lines below, reads 
from right to left, “In the nineteenth year of the king 
Sun of golden offerings (Amenemha II.), loving Osiris, 
lord of Abydos, giver of life and stability, like the sun 
for ever.” The third line begins in the middle, reading 
both to the right and the left; to the right it runs, 
“ house of blessing (the sepulchre) wine, milk, incense, 
oxen, and geese, have been offered by the constable of 
palace Sevek-re the justifiedto the left, “ house of 
blessing, wine, milk, incense, oxen, geese, have been 
offered by the constable of the palace Saotph, son of 
Tese-nofre the justified.” Each inscription refers to 
the figures beneath; on the right are the son and five 
daughters of Sevek-re, making the offerings indicated, 
and on the left the five sons and two daughters of 
Saotph. The names of each are over their heads, but 

1 Hence, perhaps, the eye (iri) in the hieroglyphic of Osiris, and 
possibly the name itself. It is a natural symbol for the sun, the eye 
of the heavens: see Psa. xix. 6. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES 


249 


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250 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


some have been mutilated in cutting the slab to fit the 
entrance, and others are no longer legible. Over the 
first figure to the right is “ the son who loves him, 
Sevek-reto the left, “the son who loves him per¬ 
forming the prescribed rites of sacrifice before his 
lord.” The square tablet between the two groups is 
filled with columns of hieroglyphics, being complete 
lists of the various articles offered; “ one vial contain¬ 
ing liquid odours, one vase of incense,” with other 
similar vessels, joints of meat, cauldrons and cooking 
vessels, ducks and geese, sauces, wines, and aromatic 
seeds are among the articles enumerated, and each 
column is added up at the foot. These oblations 
appear to have been repeated at fixed intervals, and 
formed a permanent charge on the estate. The lan¬ 
guage of the inscription seems to show that they were 
not offered to the spirit of the deceased, but, in his 
name, to Osiris; they were supposed, of course, to be 
beneficial to the departed, and, like the analogous 
masses for the dead, the revenue which they brought 
to the temples must have been considerable. 

The twelve perpendicular columns of hieroglyphics 
which follow in larger characters divide in the middle, 
and contain two inscriptions relating to the figures 
seated beneath. One invokes Osiris on behalf of 
“ Sevek-re and the wife who loves him, Tese-nofre 
the other is an act of adoration to Sev, the father of 
Osiris, in behalf of Saotph, the son of Tese-nofre, The 
figures on the right are Sevek-re and his wife Tese-nofre, 
on the left are Saotph and his wife Esonk, the daughter 
of Erpet. It is remarkable that Saotph, though suc¬ 
ceeding Sevek-re in his office of constable, is described 
as the son of his wife, not of himself; only one son 
of his own appears on his monument, and he bears his 


THE PHAEAOHS OF THEBES. 


251 


father’s name. This might imply that the office was 
held in right of the lady, and descended to her son by 
a previous marriage. The two couples are seated on 
couches side by side, though his ignorance of perspec¬ 
tive has obliged the artist to exhibit one before the 
other. From the same cause the offerings between them 
appear one above another. The design was to' represent 
two tables (or altars) piled with loaves of bread (ten 
on each). Between them is a case of vessels containing 
the wine, milk, etc., above enumerated, with a large 
ear of Egyptian corn on the floor in front; behind the 
case, though in the drawing above it, are two bullocks’ 
heads on a mat, with the livers between them. The 
other articles which appear between the altars are 
the kidneys and other viscera, surmounted by a goose, 
all of which, as well as the legs of beef and lotus 
flowers above the bread, are meant to he on the floor 
arranged about the altars. 

These extraordinary works of art, starting into 
existence, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter^ 
without a note or symptom of prepara- ^ _ 
tion, must he admitted to prove a state ^ 

of political and social organization far 
in advance of anything we have yet 
noticed. It is no less clear that the 
authority of this dynasty extended over 
all Egypt and considerable portions of 
Nubia. Sesortasen I., bearing the throne- 
name of Ra-kheper-kar (“ sun offered to the world,” or 
“ sun creator of existence”), was engaged in continual 
expeditions into the latter country in order to obtain 
possession of the gold mines of the south. Northward 
his memorials are found as far as the copper-land of 
the peninsula of Sinai. He was, perhaps, the founder 


© 

rfflh 

o 









252 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of the temple of the sun at Heliopolis, where the oldest 
known obelisk is still standing, engraved with his 
name, and a column or two at Thebes are supposed to 
mark him as the author of the first temple of Amun. 
On these monuments he bears the title of “lord of the 
Upper and Lower countries an obelisk in the Faioom 
describes him as “beloved of Phthah.” It must be in¬ 
ferred that both the Memphite and Heracleopolitan 
Dynasties were reduced under his supremacy, and 
that he reigned supreme on either bank of the Nile . 1 

Among the conquests depicted in these sculptures, 
occurs the name of Punt, denoting, probably, an 
African people, who after a long struggle were subdued 
by. the Egyptians. These were, perhaps, the descend¬ 
ants of Phut, or Put, the youngest son of Ham ; 2 and 
it is thought that they still survive in .Northern 
Africa . 3 Mr. Osbnrn very naturally supposes that the 
sons of Ham took possession of the countries to which 
they emigrated in the order of seniority; Canaan 
the eldest occupying the first district they came to 
from Shinar, Cush taking the next in the desert of 
Sinai, Mizraim pushing on to the Nile, and Phut being 
obliged to seek a home in the Great Sahara . 4 The 
superior fertility of Egypt would 
naturally provoke the envy and hos¬ 
tility of the kindred nations, and the 
monuments represent them as in 
frequent conflict. 

The second Sesortasen bore the 
throne-name of Ra-sha-Jcheper (sun 
crown of the world). His co-regent, 

1 The eastern bank was perhaps usually under the dominion 
of Thebes, and the western under Memphis. 

2 Gen. x. 6; 1 Chron. i. 8. 3 Gosse’s Ancient Egypt, p. 29. 

4 Ancient Egypt, p. 28. 



\Awvy 







THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 


253 


f©\ 

% 

LIU 


ijy 



Amenemha II., called Ra-nub-Jcaru, 

(sun of golden offerings), is tlie king 
referred to in the epitaph of Sevek- 
ra. On his death a third Sesortasen 
succeeded as joint king, whose throne- 
name was Ra-sha-Jcaru (sun crown 
of offerings.) One of these Sesor- 
tasens may have been the celebrated Sesostris, of 
whom Manetho relates that “ he conquered all Asia in 
nine years, and Europe as far as Thrace, everywhere 
erecting monuments of his victories.” 

The same author states that he was 
the first monarch of note after Osiris. 

This expression might be well under¬ 
stood of Sesortasen I., but, according 
to Bunsen, the true Sesostris was 
Sesortasen III. ( Ra-sha-karu .) 

To this hero the Greeks undoubtedly ascribed some 
of the exploits of a later king, Bameses the Great, 
as well as many which were never performed at all. 
His existence has been denied on grounds by no means 
to be despised . 1 Yet the monuments seem to show 
that the Sesortasens were really powerful princes, and 
in that early period an army might perhaps be led into 
Asia with greater facility than in the time of Alexander 
the Great. Still it is very justly observed that while 
Sesostris is said to have taken Nineveh, and Semiramis 
to have overrun Egypt, in neither case do the annals 
of the vanquished people support the boast of the con¬ 
queror. The Babylonian monuments knew nothing 
of Sesostris, nor the Egyptian of Semiramis. We may 
fairly, then, doubt the extension of the Theban arms 
beyond the limits of the valley of the Nile. There 
1 See Sir G. C. Lewis’s Ancient Astronomy, p. 349. 











254 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


they appear to have been supreme, but probably 
without extinguishing the local Pharaohs. 

A much more important question is raised by the 
painting in INTahar’s tomb , 1 which has been supposed to 
be a contemporary representation of the migration of 
Israel into Egypt. 

That Joseph’s Pharaoh was one of the Sesortasens 
is the opinion both of Sir Gardner Wilkinson and 
Baron Bunsen. The former inclines to the first of 
the name, in whose reign occurred the famine men¬ 
tioned in the epitaph of Ameni Amenemha, while 
Bunsen decides for Sesortasen III. He conceives this 
prince to be the great Sesostris, whose fame may be 
partly due to the policy of Joseph. The painting 
itself merits a more detailed description in this place. 
The occupant of the tomb, a noble of the military 
caste, is represented standing to receive a procession 
preceded by a scribe, who bears a scroll inscribed with 
the sixth year of Sesortasen II. The inscription 
is supposed to describe the persons presented as 
thirty-seven “vanquished strangers,” but the interpre¬ 
tation is not certain, and the strangers are evidently 
not prisoners, being armed and unbound. Their chief 
is represented leading an ibex by the horn, and bowing 
low to the officer who receives him. His uncovered 
head exhibits his thick natural hair, and he is clothed 
in a tunic of bright colours and varied pattern. He 
carries a staff in his hand. Another of his company 
also leads an ibex; and then four men, armed with a 
bow and a spear, precede an ass on which two chil¬ 
dren are carried in panniers. A lad on foot bearing 
a lance walks next, then four females, another ass 
with panniers, and the remaining figures are a man 
l See p. 58. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 


255 


carrying a lyre, and another with a bow and a 
club. 

The name of this strange people, though apparently 
given in the inscription, has not yet been satisfactorily 
made out. Their lighter colour and aquiline nose show 
them to be neither Egyptians, Africans, nor primitive 
Canaanites. The ibex denotes a pastoral tribe, Ara¬ 
bian or Palestinian, while the children in panniers 
clearly indicate the removal of a family. These 
striking coincidences make it extremely probable that 
the painting actually represents the Israelite immigra¬ 
tion. It is true that the “wagons” which Joseph 
sent for the little ones 1 are wanting in the picture; 
but as it represents only a part of the procession, 
this objection is not decisive. In other respects the 
resemblance is striking; “ the coat of many colours,” 2 
“the bow,” 3 “ the staff,” 4 —the latter,the more need¬ 
ful from his “halting upon his thigh ,” 5 may well 
indicate Jacob himself; while the animals in front 
seem intended to proclaim the occupation of the 
visitors 6 rather than as presents, since an Egyptian 
ruler would account them unclean. The subject was 
not unlikely to find a place in the delineations of the 
day; we read that “ the fame thereof was heard in 
Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: 
and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 7 

On the other hand, Josephus, to whom this picture 
was unknown, places his great namesake under one 
of the Shepherd kings. He is followed by Mr. Poole 
and others, who conceive that the deep aversion to 
foreigners would effectually preclude the elevation 

1 Gen. xlv. 19. 2 Gen. xxxvii. 3. 

4 Gen. xxxii. 10; Heb. xi. 21. 

6 Gen. xlvi. 34. 


3 Gen. xlviii. 22. 
5 Gen. xxxii. 31. 
7 Gen. xlv. 16. 


256 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


of a Hebrew in the court of a native Egyptian king . 1 
This arrangement is, however, liable to much greater 
difficulties. Joseph’s retinue were Egyptians, to whom 
“ every shepherd was an abomination.” 2 He received 
from the king himself a native Egyptian name . 3 His 
purchaser and his father-in-law were Egyptians both 
in name and office; the chief butler and baker also 
are well-known officers in the household of an Egyp¬ 
tian king. The recourse to magicians, and the con¬ 
fidence reposed in dreams, might be common to both 
races; but the fine linen in which Joseph was clothed, 
the gold chain about his neck, the ring on his hand, 
the chariot, are all what the monuments show to be 
customary in the native court, but which would be 
very improbable under a Bedouin Arab. To meet this 
objection, it is assumed, without evidence and con¬ 
trary to all probability, that the -usurpers adopted the 
usages of the native Pharaohs. It seems impossible, 
however, to imagine that they should be on such terms 
with the native priest of On as to give his daughter 
in marriage to Joseph; or that, while accused of de¬ 
stroying the temples and suppressing the worship, 
they should yet have so respected the priests as to 
exempt their lands from the tribute laid upon all 
others. Moses certainly appears to have known 
nothing of the Hyksos; his account is altogether of a 
native Pharaoh. 

Whoever the Pharaoh was, whom we venture to 
call Sesostris, he was probably keeping his court at 
Memphis, when the darling son of Jacob, then about 
seventeen years of age, was brought to the slave- 
market by the Arabs who had bought him of his 

2 Gen. xliii. 32; xlvi. 34. 

3 Gen. xli. 45. 


1 Bible Diet. 


THE PHARAOHS OE THEBES. 


257 


hard-hearted brethren . 1 Inheriting his mother’s beauty 
of face and figure , 2 the lad soon found a purchaser in 
the captain of Pharaoh’s guard;—an appointment, 
in Lower Egypt, similar to one of those held by Ameni 
Amenemha in the Upper region. This officer’s name 
was Potiphar, differing little from that of the priest 
of On, and one which is frequently found inscribed on 
the mummies. Its meaning is “ of or belonging to 
the sun.” 

The youth became at once a favourite with his 
master, and being entrusted with important affairs, 
discharged them so satisfactorily that he was raised 
to the post of major domo. In this condition “ the 
Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake, 
and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had 
in the house and in the field .” 3 Soon after, the young 
Hebrew showed himself worthy of the confidence 
reposed in him under a peculiar trial; and it is re¬ 
markable that one of our few pieces of hieroglyphic 
literature is a moral tale entitled The Two Brothers , 
which was, perhaps, founded on this celebrated example 
of Hebrew virtue. 

When cast into jail through false accusation, 
Joseph still retained the favour of God. His 

l These merchantmen are called Ishmaelites and Midianites (Gen. 
xxxvii. 25—28), i. e., the posterity of. Abraham by Hagar and Keturah. 
The former, however, is thought to be a general name for Arabs; and 
this caravan, coming from Gilead with aromatic gums, largely used in 
Egypt for embalming, making incense, etc., were probably Midianites. 
The price paid for Joseph was twenty shekels of silver (Gen. xxxvii. 
28), the sum appointed in the law as the value of a youth under 
twenty (Lev. xxvii. 5). Hence it seems that even thus early a 
regular tariff had obtained for this detestable traffic .—Bible Diet. 

P '2 Compare Gen. xxix. 17 with xxxix. 6 ; literally, “fair of form 
and fair in appearance.” 


258 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


remarkable tact for business soon drew the affairs of 
the whole prison under his control. His skill in inter¬ 
preting dreams, then regarded as messengers from 
God, was reported to Pharaoh. Being summoned 
to the royal presence, he shaved himself and changed 
his raiment, in compliance with Egyptian etiquette, 
and answered the king’s demand with modest piety: 
“ It is not in me; God shall send Pharaoh an answer 
of peace.” 

It is certainly no proof of great civilization that no 
provision had as yet been made for storing up the sur¬ 
plus produce of abundant harvests. Pharaoh entrusted 
this work to the interpreter, whose sagacity had sug¬ 
gested it. Joseph thus found a field beyond his wildest 
hopes for the busy spirit that had prompted his 
youthful ambition , 1 but which trial and discipline had 
steadily subjected to the Spirit of God . 2 He was 
ennobled after the Egyptian custom with a title of 
honour: arrayed in the fine linen worn by grandees, 
and with the gold chain of office round his neck, he 
rode in the second chariot of state, while heralds ran 
before him proclaiming his titles. These ‘scriptural 
details exhibit a picture of Egyptian state as vivid as 
the monuments themselves, and in exact conformity 
with their delineations. 

A prominent feature in this dynasty is the custom 
of appointing co-regents , invested with the administra¬ 
tion of the government on behalf of the sovereign, and 
even decorated with the royal titles and insignia. It 
was this exalted position, perhaps, and not the 
mere office of a vizier, that was conferred upon the 
young Hebrew, when Pharaoh took off the ring from 
his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, saying, “ See, 
1 Gen. xxxvii. 5 —10. 2 Gen. xli. 38. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 


259 


I have set thee over all the land of Egypt: only in the 
throne will I be greater than thou.” The name of 
Joseph’s wife, Asenath, has been supposed to mean 
“worshipper of Neithbut the etymology is un¬ 
certain, and it is more probably a Hebrew name, 
bestowed by himself after marriage, and signifying 
“ fruitful.” 1 Her father’s name, Potipherah, and his 
office of “priest of On,” seem to connect the family 
with the worship of Ha, the patron deity of that 
city. Joseph, however, never altered or dissembled his 
religious convictions. Conscious to whom he owed all 
the mercies of his eventful career , 2 we cannot doubt 
that he would communicate his faith to the partner of 
his earthly happiness, and, after the example of his 
great-grandfather, “command his children and his 
household after him to keep the way of the Lord.” 3 

Sesostris was renowned for the construction of 
numerous canals; and his name has been found in the 
course of the celebrated channel anciently cut from 
Bubastis to the Bed Sea. It is by no means improbable 
that his fame in this respect was derived from the im¬ 
provements undertaken by his Hebrew administrator. 
The great canal or arm of the Nile, which conducts its 
fertilizing waters into the district of the Eaioom, still 
bears the name of “ Joseph’s Biverhe may also have 
been the designer of the embankments by which the 
lake was enlarged and deepened. Another of the famous 
works attributed to Sesostris was the partitioning of 
the land into fields, subjecting all, except the estates of 
the temples and the nobility, to a fixed payment to the 
crown. This tradition would certainly appear to refer 
to the policy of Joseph described in the book of Genesis. 

1 Gen. xli. 52: see Bible Diet. 2 Gen. xxxix. 2, 21. 

3 Gen. xviii. 19; 1. 24 ; comp. Heb. xi. 22. 


260 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The surplus produce having been cheaply bought 
during the seven successive “good Niles,” was laid 
up “under the hand of Pharaoh” till “the seven 
years of dearth began to come.” The people, resorting 
to the royal stores, bought the produce of their own 
former sales. When their money was gone they 
exchanged their cattle, and finally their land, for food. 
They then offered to sell themselves, but 1 Joseph, 
with as much wisdom as humanity, declined the fatal 
purchase. Egypt was thus spared the wasting curSe 
of a slave population, and the native labour was em¬ 
ployed in a milder and more remunerative form. The 
lands acquired to the crown were restored to the 
people as tenants, though, to preserve the crown 
right, they were not suffered to resume their former free¬ 
holds, but were removed, probably in village communi¬ 
ties, to other districts. The cattle doubtless remained 
on the land, and Joseph advanced seed for its cultiva¬ 
tion, reserving a fifth of the produce as the crown 
rent. The extraordinary fertility of Egypt, and the 
cheapness of necessaries, rendered this tax by no means 
oppressive. In India the ordinary proportion, under 
the Hindu princes, was a sixth, and in times of war a 
fourth . 2 The Mussulman conquerors exacted a half. 

These regulations did not affect the extensive estates 
of the temples , 3 nor, probably, those of the nobles 
or military caste, whose resources would protect them 
against the last extremity. The traces of Joseph’s 
administration were thus indelibly stamped on the 
institutions of Egypt, and the whole narrative plainly 
evidences its writer to be one who combined the feelings 
of a Hebrew with the local knowledge of an Egyptian. 

1 Gen. slvii. 19. 2 “India : Natives and Missions,” p. 187. 

3 Gen. xlvii. 22. 


THE PHAEAOHS OF THEBES. 


261 


With all his temporal greatness, Joseph was hut a 
messenger sent before to prepare a way for the church 
of God. To Abraham the Divine hand was very con 
spicuous, in leading him in the way which he should go; 
hut Jacob was conducted to his destiny by the common, 
though not less divinely ordered, guidings of daily life. 
The famine, though “called upon the land ” 1 for 
one specific object, did its work gradually and 
naturally. The patriarch’s bereavement, his necessities 
and natural affections, were combined with the fierce 
unscrupulous character of his sons, to lead him darkly 
forward till the moment when the long sorrow was 
lifted up, and his drooping heart roused by the tidings 
—“ Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the 
land of Egypt.” 

A little incident here supplies one of those unde¬ 
signed coincidences which are so justly deemed the 
most convincing of internal evidences. The old man 
was slow to credit the marvellous story; hut “ when he 
saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, 
the spirit of Jacob their father revived: and Israel 
said, It is enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will 
go and see him before I die.” This is the first mention 
of wheeled carriagesan Egyptian invention which 
Jacob had never seen. The monuments represent 
them as drawn both by oxen and horses, and in very 
general use. 

Though willing, for Joseph’s sake, to resume his 
pilgrim’s staff, Jacob could hardly have found himself 
about to quit the promised land without experiencing 
some misgiving. God was pleased, therefore, to appear 
to him in a vision, and encourage him by the promise 
to make of him a great nation, and bring it up again 
1 Psa. cv. 16. 


262 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


after Joseph should have put his hand on the patriarch’s 
eyes. 1 “ So Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned 
in the land of Ham.” 

The little colony halted in the land of Goshen; a 
district evidently situated between the place of J oseph’s 
residence and the frontier of Palestine, 2 probably on 
the eastern border of the Delta. It was the “ best 
of the land” for pastoral purposes, and where the 
king’s own cattle were kept. 3 It was also within 
three days’ journey of the Red Sea. 4 These indications 
seem to place the land of Goshen in the valley now 
called Wadi-t- Twmeylat, along which anciently flowed 
the canal of the Red Sea. 5 

Here Joseph met his aged father, “ and he fell on his 
neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel 
said, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, 
because thou art yet alive.” Thence he conducted 
him, with five of his brethren, to the presence of Sesos- 
tris; and when the monarch, apparently struck by the 
patriarch’s venerable appearance, inquired his age, 
Jacob answered, “ The days of the years of my pil¬ 
grimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil 
have the days of the years of my life been, and liave 
not attained unto the days of the years of the life of 
my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 6 Isaac, we 
read, was 180 years old, and Abraham 175; but the 
greatest age found in the Egyptian annals is that 
attributed to the centenarian Phiops. Sesostris, doubt¬ 
less, marvelled not a little at the hardy mountaineer 
who could speak so disparagingly of six score years and 
ten. The longest life, however, as Jacob well knew, 
is still but a “ pilgrimageand he “ looked for a city 

1 Gen. xlvi. 2—4. 2 Gen. xlvi. 28. 3 Gen. xlvii. 5 —11. 

4 Exod. xiii. 20. 5 Diet. Bible, p. 711. 6 Gen. xlvii. 9, 10. 


THE PHABAOHS OE THEBES. 


263 


which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God.” 1 “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out 
from before Pharaoh.” 

Egypt was now—what it has often been since, and 
what the world, its antitype, will always be—the casket 
to hold the precious treasure of God’s church; and the 
Loed dealt with its monarch as he had dealt with 
Potiphar and the keeper of the prison for Joseph’s 
sake : “ he made all that he did to prosper.” This is 
the best explanation of the sudden brilliancy that 
illumines this portion of the Egyptian annals. The 
lavish expenditure on public improvements, and on 
works of art, is accounted for by the sums poured 
into the royal treasury by the nations who came to 
buy food in Egypt. Their necessities would further 
minister to Pharaoh’s ambition, by facilitating the 
extension of his arms in the adjacent countries; but 
in all probability the warlike traditions connected with 
Sesostris really belong to Eameses. Joseph’s Pharaoh 
derived his renown from the triumphs of peace: 
Manetho speaks of him as second only to Osiris, the 
dispenser of grain and the teacher of arts and civi¬ 
lization. 

Seventeen years after Jacob’s arrival Joseph was 
summoned to attend his father’s death-bed. Having 
listened to his prophetic utterances, and received that 
last affectionate charge in which the dying patriarch, 
struck perhaps by his personal resemblance to his 
mother, recalled the memory of her untimely end, 
“ Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, 
and kissed him.” The body was embalmed with Egyp¬ 
tian honours, and lamented with a royal mourning 
of seventy days. The grottos of Peni Hassan, how- 
i Heb. xi. 10. 


264 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ever, were not to receive this venerated mummy. It was 
carried in solemn procession into Canaan and across 
the Jordan,—as if foreshadowing the future march of his 
people,—and laid up in the burying-place of Abraham; 
“ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which 
is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham 
bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a pos¬ 
session of a burying-place; 1 —“the field,” as it is ex¬ 
pressed with legal precision, “ and the cave which was 
therein, and all the trees that were in the field and in 
the hedges.” 2 “ There,” said the patriarch on his far 
distant death-bed—“ there they buried Abraham and 
Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah 
his wife; and there I buried Leah.” 3 “ Bury me not 
in Egypt: but I will lie with my fathers.” 4 This 
sepulchral cave—Abraham’s first and only freehold in 
Canaan—is now covered by the mosque whose massive 
walls form the chief object of notice at Hebron. 
While we write, its situation has been verified by the 
royal heir of the British crown; and the day may come 
when, like the sepulchres of Egypt, its secrets shall be 
disclosed, and the wondering eyes of posterity will 
behold the sacred relics of men who conversed with 
angels and with God. 

After this last testimony of the filial affection 
which formed so prominent a feature in Joseph’s pure 
and noble character, he returned to the court of 
Pharaoh. Continuing to discharge the mission which 
he ever recognised in the goodness of a gracious 
Providence to himself, he comforted his brethren, and 
made provision for their families in the best of the 
land of Egypt. 5 He closed his eventful life at the 

1 Gen. xlix. 29, 30. 2 Gen. xxiii. 17. 3 Gen. xlix. 31. 

4 Gen. xlvii. 29,30. 5 Gen. xlv. 5; 1. 20, 21; Psa. cv. 17. 


THE PHARAOHS OE THEBES. 


265 


age of 110 years, taking his place with his last breath 
among “ the great cloud of witnesses,” by a solemn 
charge to his brethren to carry up his embalmed 
remains to the promised land when God should visit 
them, according to his word. 1 

The last two rulers of this dynasty are called Ame- 
nemha on the monuments. Eratosthenes represents 
them by the single name Mares , 
which, like the Mceris of Herodotus, 
is perhaps borrowed from the 
Moure or “ southern water ” of the 
Eaioom district. Manetho’s appella¬ 
tions oiLamar is, Labaris, and Lacharis , 
are probably corruptions of the same 
word. “ He erected the Labyrinth,” 
says this historian, “ as a tomb for himself,” and the 
fact has been proved by the recent discovery of his 
prenomen 2 Ma-n-Re on the foundation of the ruin. 
The throne names of Amenemha III. and IV. are 
nearly the same: Lepsius has found also a standard 
name for the last;— Khepera (the three beetles). 

The Labyrinth contains another 
royal name, read Sevelenefru (the 
good crocodile), whom Bunsen sup¬ 
poses to have been a co-regent of 
Amenemha III. It may possibly, 
however, be another name for Amen¬ 
emha himself, referring to his my¬ 
thical rescue by a crocodile, in me¬ 
mory of which the city and labyrinth were built. 3 
Pliny seems to allude to this story when he ascribes 

1 Gen. 1. 25; Heb. xi. 22. 

2 The symbol of the deity (Re) though written first is read last. 
“The signification may be justified or approved by the Sun.” 

3 See p. 77. 



r®\ 

/MW 




¥ 











260 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


the Labyrinth to a king RetesucMs, a word which 
means “favoured by the crocodile.” We may compare 
it with the counter-legend of the adjoining district of 
Heracleopolis, where the ichneumon was the sacred 
animal, and the crocodile the emblem of evil. Such 
stories, however, are the offspring of the superstition 
of which they pretend to assign the parentage. 

Amenemha was very probably a votary of the croco¬ 
dile, since mummies of the creature were sepulchred in 
the Labyrinth in the time of Herodotus. The building, 
as it then existed, he described as surpassing all the 
public edifices of Greece, and more wonderful than 
the Pyramids. According to Pliny, it was the model 
on which Doedalus constructed the labyrinth at Crete. 
This magnificent edifice, however, was the work of the 
Twelve princes many centuries later. Amenemha’s 
structure was probably very inferior, though not un¬ 
worthy of the stupendous architecture of his day. 
His name is also connected with some extensive im¬ 
provements in the embankments of the celebrated 
Lake, of which Joseph was very probably the original 
designer. The site of the Labyrinth discovered in the 
Eaioom by the expedition under Napoleon I. has been 
more thoroughly explored by Lepsius, who succeeded 
in finding the throne name Ra-n-ma on the blocks of 
the ruins and on the pyramid, and in thus identifying 
it as the burying-place of Amenemha. 

Mceris was the last in the list of kings beginning 
with Menes, which the priests recited to Herodotus; 
and Amenemha may be considered as the Sardanapalus 
of the early Pharaohs. While he was lavishing his 
treasures on the embellishment of his new city, and 
sunk in the luxuries of an advanced civilization, the 
warlike nomads of the Asiatic border, attracted by the 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 267 

wealth created by the policy of Joseph, were daily 
drawing nearer to the accomplishment of their wishes. 
The Theban conquests had weakened the local govern¬ 
ments, and doubtless there had been many a Bedouin 
inroad before the famous Shepherd invasion. Of this 
event, Manetho’s account, in the passage preserved by 
Josephus, is to the following effect:— 

“ In the reign of a certain king Timaus , Egypt lay 
under the Divine displeasure, and on a sudden men 
from the east country, of an ignoble race, audaciously 
invaded the land. They easily got possession of it, 
and established themselves without a struggle, making 
the rulers thereof tributary to them, burning their 
cities, and demolishing the temples of their gods. All 
the natives they treated in the most barbarous manner; 
some they put to death, others they reduced to slavery 
with their wives and children. Subsequently they 
chose a king out of their own body, Salatis by name. 
He established himself at Memphis, took tribute from 
the Upper and Lower regions, and placed garrisons in 
the most suitable places. He fortified more especially 
the eastern frontier, foreseeing that the Assyrians, 
whose power was then at its height, would make an 
attempt to force their way into the empire from that 
quarter. He found in the Sethroite nome a city 
particularly well adapted for that purpose, lying to 
the east of the Bubastite arm of the Nile, called 
Avaris, from some old mythological fable. This he 
rebuilt and fortified with strong walls, placing in it a 
garrison of 240,000 heavy-armed soldiers. In summer 
he visited it in person, for the purpose of furnish¬ 
ing his troops with a fresh supply of provisions, 
paying their salaries, and practising military exercises, 
by which to strike terror into the foreigners. He 


268 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


died after a reign of nineteen years, and was succeeded 
by another king, Beon by name, v^ho reigned forty- 
four years. After him Apachnas reigned thirty-six 
years and seven months; then Apophis^xty-oicie years; 
then JoniaSy fifty years and one month; and lastly, 
Assis, forty-nine years and two months. These six 
were their first rulers. They were continually at war, 
with a view of utterly exhausting the strength of 
Egypt. The general name of their people was HyJcsos , 
which means ‘shepherd kings;’ for Uylc signifies in 
the sacred language a king, and Sos, in the demotic, 
is shepherd and shepherds. Some say they were 
Arabs.” 

Josephus proceeds:—“ The above-mentioned kings 
and their posterity reigned over Egypt, as Manetho 
states, 511 years. After this the kings of the Thebaid, 
and of the other parts of Egypt, revolted against the 
Shepherds, whereupon a great and long protracted 
war ensued. Under a king called JSIisphragmuthosis 
the Shepherds were defeated, and not only driven out 
of the rest of Egypt, but blockaded in Avaris. The 
son of Misphragmuthosis, Thummosis , endeavoured to 
take this city by siege, and encamped before the walls 
with 480,000 men. At last, giving up all hope of re¬ 
ducing it by assault, he entered into a treaty with 
them, by virtue of which they were to withdraw from 
Egypt, and have a safe conduct to any place they 
should choose. So they decamped from Egypt through 
the desert to Syria, with all their families and effects, 
not less than 240,000 persons. Tearing the power of 
the Assyrians, who were then dominant in Asia, they 
built in Judea a city large enough to contain so many 
thousands, and called it Jerusalem.” 1 

1 Jos. cont. Apion, lib. 1, c. xi. 14, 15. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THEBES. 


269 


In adducing this story as referring to his own ances¬ 
tors the Jews, Josephus is suspected of having cor¬ 
rupted the text to suit his mistaken hypothesis. 
Certainly the first founders of Jerusalem were not the 
Jews, but the Jebusites, a Canaanite nation, from 
whom it was captured by David. 1 Herodotus heard 
nothing of the Shepherd invasion, beyond a tradition 
which ascribed the Greek pyramid to the shepherd 
Philitis ; neither is it mentioned by any other Greek 
author. No traces have ever been discovered of the 
great city Avaris; nor has so much as a single grave 
been identified with this foreign Asiatic race. The 
sole authorities for their existence are this extract 
from Manetho, and the lists of Africanus and Eusebius, 
which differ widely both from Josephus and from each 
other. 

Africanus has three foreign dynasties (Eifteenth, 
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth) ; one of “ foreign Phoeni¬ 
cian kings, who took Memphisa second of “ Hellenic 
Shepherd kings,” called Hylcsos; and a third of “ Shep¬ 
herd kings and Theban Diospolites.” The only names 
are those of the first, which are given as Saitis, Bnon, 
Pachnan, Staan, Archies , and Aphobis. The last being 
the same with that of the centenarian Phiops or 
Apappus, could hardly have belonged to a “ foreign 
Phoenician.” Eusebius gives but one Shepherd dynasty 
(Seventeenth), which he entitles, “ Brothers, Phoeni¬ 
cians, Foreigners.” Their names are four, Saitis , Bnon, 
Archies, and Aphobis. 2 The Eifteenth Dynasty he makes 
to be “ Diospolitans,” and the Sixteenth “ Thebans.” 

Out of this confusion it is impossible to extract any 
authentic history. All that appears clear is that the 

1 2 Sam. v. 6, 7. 

2 In the Armenian version the last two are transposed. 


270 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


power of Thebes was shattered, and Lower Egypt 
temporarily deluged, by a horde of nomads, some of 
whose chiefs established themselves in Memphis, and 
levied tribute on the neighbouring states. Xois, a 
strong city in the Delta, maintained its independence, 
and appears in Manetho as the seat of the Eourteenth 
Dynasty. Thebes was protected in the narrow valley 
of Upper Egypt, and there a Thirteenth Dynasty is 
entered, though without any names. It was, perhaps, 
a rival house to that of Amenemha. Other princes 
asserted their authority in different places. How long 
this confusion continued we are unable to conjecture; 
but the native forces eventually rallied to the standard 
of Thebes, and under the successor of Amenemha the 
strangers were driven out of Memphis, and the Theban 
supremacy established on a wider and firmer footing 
than before. Eor none of these events, however, do 
the monuments supply any evidence, nor are there any 
means whatever of approximating to the chronology, 
save by a conjectural connexion with the Scripture 
history. 


271 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 

Dynasties XVIII. to XX. — Amosis—New Lists compared with Monuments — King 
who knew not Joseph — Amosis—Amunoph I.—Thothmes I. — Pharaoh's Daughter 
—Thothmes III.—House of Bondage — Brickworks—Amunoph III.—Sacerdotal 
Honours — Horus—Succession interrupted—Bamessu I. — Manetho's Tradition of 
Exodus—Truer Tradition at Heliopolis—The reigning Pharaoh—Comparisonwith 
Scripture — Revolution — Restoration—JEgyptus and Danaus—Intercourse with 
Greece—Error of Menophres — Proteus—Military Organization—Fall of Thebes. 

The true history of the Ancient Egyptian monarchy 
is comprised in that of Manetho’s Eighteenth, Nine¬ 
teenth, and Twentieth Dynasties ;—a period of sufficient 
antiquity, duration, and splendour, when stripped of 
the exaggerations derived from the fabulous legends 
of previous times. The earlier Pharaohs were rulers 
of petty states, and though a temporary ascendancy 
was acquired by Thebes under the Twelfth Dynasty, it 
seems to have been broken up by internal divisions, 
and was rolled back upon its source by the Shepherd 
invasion. The fugitives from Lower Egypt and the 
Delta found safety in the rocky valley of the Thebaid; 
after a time the Theban Pharaohs again took the lead 
in a war at once for independence and for sovereignty. 
The first whose name emerges from the cloud is 
Amos, Amosis, or Aahmes, “the son of the moon.” 
His scutcheon appears on the genealogical tablet of 
Karnak with only one ancestor, Menmoth, between 
him and Menes, indicating probably the line by which 
his blood was traced to the traditional founder of the 
nation . 1 On the tablet of Abydos he is the immediate 

1 It is not improbable that his ancestral line was traced through 
Manetho’s Thirteenth Dynasty, of which we have no names. 


272 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


successor of Amenemha, and was probably elected to 
the vacant throne on the failure of the reigning house . 1 

The wealth and power of the royal line which he 
inaugurated are attested by a continuous series of 
contemporaneous monuments. In fact, the great bulk 
of Egyptian antiquities belong to these kings. They 
were the authors of the immense constructions at 
Karnak and Luxor, and all the principal cities contain 
remains of their palaces, temples, and obelisks. The 
scale on which these works were planned and executed 
proves a command of money and labour wholly incon¬ 
sistent with any theory which supposes the monarchy 
to have just emerged from a subjugation of many cen¬ 
turies under a barbarous invader. The authors of these 
monuments evidently possessed extraordinary supplies 
both of men and material; and the sacrednarrative alone 
suggests the sources from which they were obtained. 
The administration of Joseph had opened out means of 
wealth which the Amenemhas could not exhaust, nor 
the forays of the Hyksos more than superficially affect. 
On the other hand, the reduction of the Hebrews to a 
state of servitude furnished an unlimited amount of la¬ 
bour. Viewed in this light, these monuments, like many 
other trophies of human greatness, are memorials of 
the crimes, even more than the talents, of their authors. 

In spite, however, of the numerous and costly works 
by which they sought to perpetuate their memory, these 
Pharaohs have not escaped the shadows which envelope 
all Egyptian antiquity. Little beyond the name is 
known of any, and in many cases the name itself is 
apocryphal. Manetho is the sole historian, and the- 
following shows the result of the long and laborious 

1 Africanus reckons him the last of the Twelfth Dynasty, but he 
may be regarded as the founder of the Eighteenth. 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


273 


comparison instituted by Baron Bunsen, between the 
two texts of this author and the remaining monu¬ 
ments. The chronology, it will be seen, is purely 
speculative, seldom sustained, and often contradicted, 
by the monuments. 

EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 


MANETHO, accordiug to 


r 

AeKICANUS. 

Eusebius. ' 

Yfs 

I. Amos 1 . . 

H. Chebros . IS 

III. Amenophis. 24 

IV. Amersis, or 

Amenses . 22 

Yrs. 

I. Amosis . . 25 

II. Chebron . . 13 
III. Amenophis. 21 

V. Misapliries . 13 

IV. MiphreB. . 12 

VI. Misphragmu- 
thosis . . 26 
VII. Touthmosis. 9 

V. Misphragmu- 
thosis . . 26 j 
VI. Thonthmosis 9 

VIII. Amenophis 2 31 

IX. Horus . . 37 

VII. Amenophis 2 31 

VIII. Horus. . . X 36~^- 

U7J. 

X. Acherres. . 32 

IX. Achencheres £ Jg j 

XI. Uathos, Ra- 
thotis,Athotis 6 
XII. Chebres . . 12 

XIII. Acherres. . 12 

XIV. Armesses . 5 

XV. 9>amessees . 1 

XVI. Amenophath 19 

X. Acherres. . 8 ) 

XI. Cherres . . 15 j 
XII. Armais 3 . 5~) 

XIII. Ramesses 4 . 68 j 

XIV. Amenophis, 

or Menophis 40 

Years 263 

Years 326 

„ 337 

„ 369 

„ 378 

„ 380 

„ 384 


Monuments with highest 
year fouud. 


I. Aahmes ... 22 
Prenomen of Aahmes. 
II. Amenhept (I.) . 

Aahmes , sister of fore¬ 
going, co-regent, 
married to 

III. Tetmes (I.). . . . 
Makarra Numt Amen, 

daughter of fore¬ 
going, sister and co 
regent to 

IV. Tetmes (II.) . . . 
f Same Numt Amen, sis- 
( ter and co-regent to 

V. Tetmes (III.) . . 35 
VI. Amenhept (II.) . 
VII. Tetmes (IV.) . . 7 
VIII. Amenhept (III.) . 36 


IX. Heh. 7 

Collateral with Horns. 

Aaknatenra, or Amen 
hept IV., brother 
of Horus ... 6 

Titi, sister (wife of Ai.) 
Amuntuanch, brother. 


Ramessu (I.) 
Menphtah. 




25 

13 

21 


26 

9 

31 
37 

32 


■o » 

o> C 
> >» 
20 


216 


l “ In his reign Moses left Egypt.” 2 “ He is thought to be Memnon and the 

speaking statue.” 3 Who is also Danaus.” 4 Who is also ASgyptus.” 

T 






















274 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


NINETEENTH DYNASTY. 


MANETHO, according to 


Africanus. 


Yrs. 


I. Sethos. 51 

II. Rapsaces. 61 

III. Ammenephth.es 20 

IV. Rameses. 60 

V. Ammenemes .. 5 

VI. Thuoris * 1 . 7 


Years 204 


Eusebius. 


Yrs. 


I. Sethos.55 

II. Rampses.... 66 

III. Amenephthes 40 


IV. Ammenemes 26 


Thuoris 1 ... 7 


Years 194 


Monuments, with 
highest year found. 


I. Ramessu (I.) 
son of Titi and 

A j . 2 

II. Setei (I.) ... 

III. Ramses the 

Great . 62 

IV. Menptah 
(Menephthah) 4 

(same as No. III.) 
(Amenemes, coun¬ 
ter king to 
V. Setei (II.) .. 
Merira , Progeni¬ 
tor of Dynasty 
XX. 


Years 


« a i 
°« 3 


g - bo 


9 

12 

66 

20 


112 


1 “ In Homer, Tolybus, the husband of Alkandra, in whose time Troy was taken/ 


TWENTIETH DYNASTY. 

TWELVE EIOSPOLITAN KINGS- 185 YEARS. 

I. Merr-Ra (Set-nekht) Merr- 

amu. Phuoro Nilus (Proteus) 7 years. 

II. Ramessu Hek-pen. Ramses III. son, 16 years. 

III. Ramessu Mer-amn-hek-ma. Ramses IV. brother. 

IV. Ramessu Amnhikhepshf Ne- 

ter-hek-pen. Ramses V. brother. 

V. Ramessu Amnhikhepshf Ne- 

ter-hek-pen. Ramses VI. brother. 

VI. Ramessu Amnhikhepshf Merr- 

Set. Ramses VII. brother. 

VII. Ramessu Shama Merr-amn.. Ramses VIII. son of Ramses VI. 

VIII. Ramessu Merr-amn Hek-amn Ramses IX. 

IX. Ramessu Shama Merr-ma 

Hek-neter-pen.Ramses X. 18 years (papyrus). 

X. Ramessu Amnhikhepshf.... Ramses XI. 

XI. Ramessu Amnhikhepshf 

Merr-amn. Ramses XII. 

XII. [Ramessu] Hek-ma Satp.-n- 

ra Amnhikhepshf. Ramses XIII. 






























THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


275 


° i 

/•V 

R i 

M 

w: 

*2 


Amosis or Aabmes was, in all probability, the king 
who took Memphis from the Shepherds, and compelled 
them to retreat into their fortified camp 
at Avaris. This exploit was accomplished 
before the twenty-second year of his 
reign, at which time it appears from an 
inscription in the quarries of Maasera 
that he caused stone to be cut for build¬ 
ing temples to Phthah, Apis, and Amun in the capital 
of Lower Egypt. The earlier part of his reign was 
doubtless spent in warfare, since the monuments record 
that he fought many battles both by land and sea. His 
naval engagements were of course on the Red Sea, by 
which the Hyksos communicated with Arabia. 

He is generally supposed to be “ the new king who 
knew not Joseph” 1 -—a description exactly suited to his 
character as a Theban prince, of a rival house to the 
Sesortasens, and entering Lower Egypt as a conqueror 
more than a deliverer. The friendly relations of the 
Hebrews with the Shepherd tribes, and their location 
m the land of Goshen, between himself and his newly 
expelled enemy, would naturally awaken his apprehen¬ 
sions. In a future engagement they might unite with 
the foe, and prove too strong for the natives. The 
language ascribed to the new king in the book of 
Exodus suggests the thought that the Hebrews had 
already betrayed some disposition to return towards 
their ancestral country—“ Lest it come to pass that 
when there falleth out any war, they join also unto 
our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up 
out of the land” 2 Such an accession to the frontier 
tribes might bring them back in an irresistible wave. 
To prevent this Amosis resolved to reduce the Israel 
1 Exod. i. 8. 2 Exod. i. 10. 






276 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


ites to servitude, thereby strengthening the frontier on 
which they were situated, and increasing his own 
resources for the war. “ They built for him treasure 
cities (i.e., fortresses), Pithom andRaamses,” probably 
at the two extremities of the Goshen valley. Raamses, 
signifying the city of the sun, was probably not far 
from Heliopolis. 

Chebros or Chebron, who follows Amosis in the 
lists, is said by Josephus to have been his son: he 
was therefore so described by Manetho. But as no 
such king appears on the monuments, Baron Bunsen 
considers it to be the prenomen of Amosis himself, 
expressed by the sign for gold ( gnub ), and the horse’s 
head denoting watchfulness. The objection to such 
exercises of modem ingenuity is that they utterly 
destroy the credit of the author they pretend to 
illustrate. Manetho was better acquainted with the 
monuments than any explorers of our day; if he 
was capable of swelling his regal succession by enter¬ 
ing the two shields of the same king, as father and 
son, what reliance can be placed on his remaining 
statements ? 

The next king, Amenophis or Amunhept (I.), de¬ 
rives his name, like the Amenemhas of the preceding 
dynasty, from the patron deity of Thebes. 
Though a warlike and victorious ruler, 
this monarch is chiefly distinguished by 
the religious honours paid to his memory. 
All the Theban kings appear to have 
affected the priestly functions while 
living, and to have been honoured as 
divine after death. In some cases they were the 
objects of direct adoration. In the quarries of Silsilis, 
Amunoph is seen receiving incense in company with 







THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


277 


Atmoo: another inscription unites him with Amun, 
Ra, and Osiris; there was even a special order of 
priests consecrated to his service. The wife of Amu- 
noph I. was an Ethiopian named Nofre-are} a princess 
held in great respect, perhaps from having, brought 
with her into Egypt an hereditary claim to the 
possession of her native land. 

Amunoph’s successor, Amensis or Aahmes, appears 
on the monuments with the dress and attributes of a 
king, but with the feminine prefix in the inscriptions. 
This has induced an opinion that she was a queen- 
regent ; and Lepsius thinks he has discovered her to 
be the daughter and heir of the last king, who bestowed 
her hand and throne on her cousin 
Thothmes (I.) The enormous pile at 
Karnak, commenced by this king, must 
be allowed to prove that the Hyksos 
no longer levied tribute or inspired 
alarm. Their complete expulsion, how¬ 
ever, was re'served for a later reign. 

After Thothmes I. appears another female Pharaoh, 
who has “given rise to more doubts and questions 
than any other sovereign of the 
Dynasty.” 1 2 Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
reads the hieroglyphics which com¬ 
pose her name, Amun-net-gori; but 
Bunsen, reversing the signs on the 
authority of Lepsius, decides in favour 
of MaJcarra Numt Amun. Their ex- 



rw\ 


U 


# 


1 Nofre , “ good,” expressed by a lute, seems to have been a con¬ 
ventional title for ladies, equivalent, perhaps, to “fair” in our 
language; though, as this queen was a negress , the adjective did not 
carry with it our idea of female attractiveness. 

2 Wilkinson, i. 52. Sharpe imagines her to be Nitocris, the last of 
the Memphite line. 








278 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


planation is that she was the daugh¬ 
ter of the last king, and eo-regent 
for her brother Thothmes II., who 
was also her husband . 1 Her maiden 
name was Hatasu. She has the title 
of “ Pharaoh’s daughter ” on the 
monuments, and was clearly invested 
with royal authority. She continued 
in office during the earlier part of the reign of 
Thothmes III., supposed to he a younger brother 
who succeeded in his minority; hut her rule was for 
some reason so displeasing to that monarch, that, on 
attaining to the personal exercise of his power, he 
caused her name to be erased from most of the 
monuments which she had erected . 2 

Numt Amun was the author of the small temple at 
Medinet Ahoo, the elegant edifice under the Qoorneh 
rocks, and the great obelisks of Karnak, one of which, 
still standing, exhibits her name uneffaced in conjunc¬ 
tion with Thothmes III. The youthful king is de¬ 
picted on his knees before Amun-ra, who places his 
hand on his head. The deity is repeated down the 
side of the obelisk, and on the opposite face the sove¬ 
reign is offering: wine and incense. The dedication is 
mostly in the name of Numt Amun. This obelisk is 
of rose granite, ninety feet high, and a marvel of 
Egyptian art. The figures are as fine as cameos, 

1 The odious custom of marriages between brothers and sisters is 
said to have been borrowed by the Persian kings from Ancient Egypt. 

2 It is difficult to accept that part of the hypothesis which supposes 
the Misaphris of Manetho to denote this princess when co-regent to 
Thothmes II., and Misphragmuthosis the same person in the reign 
of Thothmes III. These are obviously intended for the names of 
two kings; and as Manetho could not be ignorant of the succession 
on the monuments, it is more reasonable to suppose that they were 
some of the appellations of Thothmes II. and III. 








THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


279 


appearing to be impressed with a seal, instead of being 
chiselled out of the hardest stone. It was perhaps 
at this time that Amun, the tutelar deity of Thebes, 
was dignified by the addition of Ra, and proclaimed 
“ king of the gods,”—a device which there is reason 
to think was resorted to in order to consolidate 
the Theban sway, and complete the expulsion of the 
Shepherds. 

It is not improbable that Numt Amun was 
“the Pharaoh’s daughter” who had pity upon the 
infant Moses, and nourished him up as her son; 
and her disgrace may have been connected with his 
repudiation of the royal service and subsequent 
flight into Arabia. If so, the cruel tyrant was 
Thothmes III., the Thummosis of Josephus, and 
the Misphragmuthosis of Manetho, by whom the 
Shepherds were finally compelled to quit Egypt. 
Instead of a reign of twenty-six years assigned him 
in the Lists, the thirty-fifth has already been found 
on the monuments, during which the iron entered 
into the soul of the unhappy Israelites. His fea¬ 
tures, sculptured in a colossal head at the British 
Museum, exhibit decided traces of the negro physio¬ 
gnomy, derived probably, with its attendant ferocity, 
from his Ethiopian grandmother. He is said to have 
followed the retreating tribes into Asia; and the 
monuments abound in representations of his victories 
over a white people called Rotnno , supposed to have 
dwelt between the Caspian and the Euxine Seas. 
He is even said to have reduced Babylon and 
Nineveh;—exploits which may be regarded as apo¬ 
cryphal until confirmed by the records of those cities. 
In Ethiopia, where he had hereditary pretensions, his 
campaigns were conducted with great success. They 


280 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


were possibly the wars in which, according to Jose¬ 
phus, Moses commanded a military force and won 
several victories. 

The glory of this long reign was cherished for many 
a century. The statistical tablet is still extant at 
Karnak, on which the results of its numerous expedi¬ 
tions were inscribed. According to Bunsen, this was 
the tablet which the priests showed to the Emperor 
Germanicus, when he visited the banks of the Nile: 
they “ read from it the tributes levied on the nations, 
the weight of gold and silver, the number of arms and 
horses, ivory and perfumes as gifts to the temples, 
and the stores of corn and other useful products which 
each nation paid; not less magnificent (observes the 
Latin historian) than are now enjoyed by Parthian 
violence or by Roman power .” 1 

The empire, which heard with amazement of the 
former greatness of its subject province, has itself 
long since fallen into the “ sere and yellow leaf” of 
decay, yet the name of Thothmes is still perpetuated 
at Rome. The obelisk in front of St. John Lateran, 
the highest in the world , 2 and covered from top to 
bottom with exquisite sculptures, was erected at 
Heliopolis in the reign of this king, the lateral inscrip¬ 
tions being added by his successor. Constantine had 
it conveyed to Alexandria, whence his son transported 
it to Rome. Four empires successively rose and fell 
in Egypt while this mysterious column stood pointing 
“ with silent finger up to heavenbut a yet deeper 
interest is excited by the thought that it preserves the 
memorial of the power which first exalted itself against 

1 Tac. Annal, ii. 60. The inscription, however, seems to have 
related to Raineses, not Thothmes; Sir G. C. Lewis (p. 352) considers 
it to have been manifestly fabulous. 

2 105 feet. 



THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


281 


tlie church of the living God, and by its signal 
humiliation was made to declare his name through¬ 
out the earth . 1 

The great sphinx at Ghizeh is probably another of 
this Pharaoh’s works, designed, perhaps, to commemo¬ 
rate the final incorporation of the country of the 
pyramids with the dominions of Thebes. By the 
Greeks he was confounded with Moeris, the supposed 
author of the Eaioom Lake—a mistake which may 
have originated in his appellation of Mai-re (beloved 
of Ba). The lake, as we have seen, was a natural 
mere, and the story of its excavation by the hand of 
man a fable. Many rulers before Thothmes had con¬ 
tributed to the embankments, by which its area was 
enlarged and deepened, but it is not improbable that 
large sums were expended in further improvements 
during this long and prosperous reign. 

Of all the monuments and traditions of this cele¬ 
brated Pharaoh, none is so interesting to ourselves as 
the remarkable painting in the tomb of his architect, 
Eekshare, which is thought to represent the hard usage 
of the children of Israel in Egypt. It is an accurate 
illustration of the “ house of bondage ” as described by 
Moses; and in all probability an actual portrait of the 
children of Israel at their labours. “ The physiognomy 
of the Jews,” Mr. Osburn thinks, “ it is impossible to 
mistake.” They are engaged in the labour described in 
the Bible, of making brick ; their bodies are splashed 
with the clay; and their service is obviously exacted 
“ with rigour.” 2 In the middle of the picture sits an 
Egyptian “taskmaster,” with his baton ready to 
enforce obedience; and on the right two of these 
functionaries are seen beaten by their superior, and 
1 Exod. ix. 16. 2 Exod. i. 13. 


282 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


compelled themselves to perform the task which they 
had allowed the bondsmen to pretermit . 1 The Egyp¬ 
tians are clearly distinguished by their colour, and 
peculiar head-dress: the superior is not improbably 
the architect himself, in whose tomb the incident was 
delineated. 

There was a time when it was objected to the 
Mosaic narrative that the Egyptian monuments are of 
stone , not brick; but further explorations have laid 
open vast structures of brick, which, being baked only 
in the sun, had chopped straw mixed with the clay, 
in order to strengthen their consistency. The straw 
is often found in very small quantity, indicating, per¬ 
haps, a difficulty in procuring it . 2 Many of these 
bricks have been brought to England, having the name 
of Thothmes III. stamped upon them. In this paint¬ 
ing the inscription explains the subject to be “captives 
brought by the Pharaoh to build the temples of the 
great gods.” It would appear, there¬ 
fore, that the family of Joseph were 
not only reduced to servitude, but, in 
open defiance of the Lord God of their 
ancestors, compelled to labour in the 
service of the new king of gods, 
Amun-ra. 

A second Amunoph and a fourth 
Thothmes appear on the monuments, 
\ who, according to Bunsen's arrange- 

ment, were unknown to the Lists. 
The latter, however, is probably the 
Touthmosis who reigned nine years, 
the seventh of which is found on the 
monuments. 




1 Exod. v. 6—13. 


2 Exod. v. 12. 









THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


283 


Amunopli III. was the monarch whose name is seen 
on the two lions in the Egyptian G-allery of the 
British Museum. They were brought 
from the sacred hill of Barkal, whither 
they had been removed from the temple * 
of Soleb. At the latter place the names 
of forty vanquished Ethiopian tribes are 
inscribed. A granite statue in the Louvre 
also records the triumphs of this king, 
by whom the southern boundary of the 
empire was extended as far as the island of Argo, in 
lat. 19° 12'. He was the builder of the two vast 
palaces that bear his name on either side of the Nile 
at Thebes. In the Luxor ruin is a representation of 
the incarnation of the deity, where the features of 
Amunoph are given to the infant god. The cere¬ 
monies of the royal purification and coronation are 
minutely delineated on the same structure. The 
Pharaoh receives the Pschent in the presence of 
Amun-ra, and is afterwards seen “ running in ” with 
libations and sacrifices. The imposing rows of crio- 
sphinxes between Luxor and Karnak bear the name 
of the same monarch, and to him was due the still 
more magnificent avenue on the western bank, where 
the colossal statues now sitting in isolated grandeur 
formed the entrance of the dromos which led up to a 
stupendous palace temple. The northernmost of the 
two colossi is the celebrated “ speaking statue ” which 
the Greeks called Memnon, and imagined to be the 
image of Homer’s Ethiopian king, the son of Aurora 
and Tithonus, who came with a body of 10,000 men 
to aid his uncle Priam at the siege of Troy. It is 
really the statue of Amunoph, and its companion is 
his wife. 







284 


ANCIENT EGYPT. * 


Two similar statues of this king, though of less 
dimensions, in the British Museum, afford favourable 
examples of the quiet grandeur attained by Egyptian 
art, from the simplicity of its aim. They sit in a 
position of perfect repose, looking straight before 
them, and without any attempt at expression in face 
or figure; hut “ they never fail to please the skilful 
beholder, and have at all times been praised by the 
best judges, ancient as well as modern.” 1 Several 
other heads of Amunoph may be seen in the Egyptian 
Gallery, the features of which are of a higher intellec¬ 
tual order than those of Thothmes III. 

The Pharaohs of this dynasty affected sacerdotal 
honours quite as much as royal ones. The name of 
Amunoph (assumed by this monarch at a late period 
of his reign, and extended to his two predecessors in 
substitution of their original appellations) seems to 
indicate some special relations with the deity. It 
appears, too, that, like the first of the name, he had a 
special order of priesthood serving in his honour. In 
the birth scene before mentioned he is promised the 
“ throne of Horus,” and in bestowing that name upon 
his own son, the monarch may be thought to liken 
himself to the great god Osiris. 

Other indications point to some 


/©\ 






religious innovations introduced at this 
period, and occasioning much dissen¬ 
sion in the royal family. Horus was 
apparently not the eldest son, for an 
Amunoph IY. appears on some monu¬ 
ments, and the sixth year of his reign 
is recorded; but his shield has been 


subsequently defaced, and his name is omitted from 


1 Sharpe’s History of Egypt, i. 66. 






THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


285 


the Lists. Another brother is .also found with royal 
insignia bearing the name of Amuntuanch; and a sister, 
Titi, with her husband, Ai, a priest, appears to have 
assumed similar honours ; she is supposed to have sur¬ 


vived Horus, and transmitted the throne to Rameses I. 

The explanation which Baron Bunsen offers of these 
convulsions is that Amunoph IV. renounced the wor¬ 
ship of the king of the gods, and addicted himself to 
that of the sun; not under the form of Ra, as recognised 
in Lower Egypt, but, like the Persians, invoking the 
luminary itself, shining resplendent in the heavens. 
A monument at Alabastron represents a Theban king 
in the act of thus adoring the sun, whose rays, each 
terminating with a hand, envelop his whole figure, to 
denote the universality of its influence. The inscrip¬ 
tion bears a name which Bunsen reads Aakhnaten-ra> 
and supposes it to have been assumed by Amunoph 
when he discarded the deity after whom he was 
originally called. 1 

Amunoph IV. being set aside for this apostasy, his 
brother Horus was adopted in the recognised succession 
as next to their father. His name is expressed by the 
hawk (the emblem of his patron deity), and the 
hieroglyphic, which denotes a religious festival. In a 
grotto between the first and second 
cataracts, he is represented in the 
character of his namesake, the son of 
Isis, suckled by the goddess Anouke, 
while the ram-headed deity Kneph 
stands by. He added both to the vic¬ 
tories and the monuments of his father, 


jib 


i 1 


1 Mr. Sharpe reads the cartouche Adon-ra-balcan , and gives it to 
Marus during the time of the Persian conquest, B. c. 460. The sun- 
worshipper he takes for his son Mannyras—Hist. of Egypt, i. 186—199. 








286 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


and seems to have been still more largely invested with 
religious honours. In a representation of one of his 
triumphs, an attendant is figured burning incense 
before him. Two fine statues of this king in the 
Museum at Turin are inscribed with a decree ordering 
his image to be placed in the temples, and a festival to 
be celebrated in his honour, conjointly with the god 
Ee. A tradition preserved in Josephus ascribed to 
him the privilege of enjoying “ a vision of the gods.” 

He is often accompanied on the monuments by a 
royal lady (symbolized by a female sphinx), who, 
according to Josephus, was his daughter and successor 
on the throne. This may be the Eathos, Eathotis, 
or Athotis of the lists, and the Titi of the monuments, 
whom Lepsius believes to have been his sister; but 
here the discrepancies between the lists and the 
monuments become utterly irreconcilable. The suc¬ 
cession was doubtless interrupted; in fact, it is given 
in three different forms by Josephus, Africanus, 
and Eusebius, two of whom, at least, possessed the 
original Manetho, while the monumental arrangement 
proposed by Bunsen and Lepsius exhibits a fourth, 
inconsistent with either. 


On the whole, Africanus seems (as usual) the safest 
guide, though it is impossible to rely on any one where 
the testimony is so contradictory. 


Supposing, with Bunsen, the names 
'*** of Acherres (twice repeated) and Che- 


|/SW\/*A 


JP 


bres, of whom nothing is known, to 
represent the rival brothers of Horus, 
Athotis (or Titi) was succeeded by her 
son Armesses or Eameses (which is 
the same name), answering to the 






THE COPTIC MONAECHY. 


287 


Ramessu I. of the monuments. His reign was short, 
as is shown by the absence of ornament on his tomb, 
and he was followed by Amenophath, or, as Eusebius 
writes it, Amenophis, the last of the dynasty, to whom 
Josephus and Africanus both assign a reign of nine¬ 
teen years. If it he true that no monumental evidence 
remains of this king, the want of it may connect him 
with a tradition of the Exodus, which is presently to 
be related. He may possibly, however, be identified 
with Amenoph IV., whose shield has been found de¬ 
faced, with a record of the sixth year of his reign. 

The tradition referred to is preserved by Josephus, 
who being highly offended with the character it 
ascribed to his ancestors, affirmed that Manetho took 
it from no authentic registers, but only from the 
popular legends. It may be doubted, however, whether 
an ancient ballad is not an authority very superior to 
Manetho’s imaginary registers. 

Josephus’ statement is, that, after describing the 
retreat of the Shepherds, Manetho “ brings in a 
fictitious king Amenophis, who being a prince of 
much piety, earnestly desired to behold the gods, 
as Horus, one of his predecessors, had been per¬ 
mitted to do. On communicating this wish to a 
priest of his own name, reputed to be inspired, he 
was told that his desire should be gratified when 
he had cleared the country of its lepers, and other 
unclean inhabitants. The king having collected all 
the diseased persons he could find, to the number of 
80,000, sent them to the quarries eastward of the 
Nile, where they were condemned to hard labour. 
Among them were several of the priesthood; and, 
dreading their influence with the gods, the priest 
Amenophis put an end to his life, leaving a prediction 


288 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


that the outcasts would he masters of Egypt for 
thirteen years. After some time the king permitted 
the poor wretches to remove to Avaris, a city once 
sacred to Typhon, but which, after the expulsion of 
the Shepherds, had remained uninhabited. Here 
they chose for their leader one Osarsiph, a priest of 
Heliopolis, who, after binding them by a solemn cove¬ 
nant to follow his guidance, delivered as his first 
enactment, that they should not worship any of the 
gods of Egypt, nor refrain from eating the sacred 
animals. Having further bound them by laws opposed 
to the customs of the Egyptians, he fortified the city, 
and sent for assistance to the Shepherds expelled by 
Tethmosis, and who then occupied Jerusalem. Two 
hundred thousand men obeyed his summons, and 
Amenophis in alarm removed the sacred animals out 
of the temples to his palace, commanding the priests to 
hide the idols. Having then entrusted his son Sethos, 
who was also called Harnesses after his grandfather, 
to the care of his friends, he marched against the rebels 
at the head of 300,000 men; but reflecting on the 
prophecy of his namesake, he resolved not to offend 
the gods by fighting against their decree. So with¬ 
drawing his army to Memphis, he took the bull Apis 
and the other sacred animals with him, and retreated 
with his whole force into Ethiopia, where they con¬ 
tinued during the fated thirteen years. Meantime the 
Solymites, and followers of Osarsiph, cruelly oppressed 
the people, burned the towns and villages, plundered 
the temples, and forced the priests to slay the sacred 
animals, and cook them for their banquets. The 
priest Osarsiph changed his name to Moses. At the 
expiration of the appointed time, Amenophis returned 
from Ethiopia at the head of a large army; with the 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


289 


aid of another force under his son Harnesses, he con¬ 
quered the Shepherds and outcasts, and, driving them 
over the border, pursued them to the coast of Syria.” 1 
Such was the form in which the wounded pride of the 
Egyptian populace disguised the defeat experienced by 
Pharaoh and his gods in the prolonged controversy 
with the Lord of hosts. The impurity attributed to 
the Hebrews agrees with the caste feeling noted in the 
hook of G-enesis. The learning of Moses was explained 
by making him a renegade priest. The plagues inflicted 
on the idolaters were turned into sufferings, endured 
in obedience to the will of the false gods; and the 
overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea 
was exchanged for an improbable inconsistent triumph. 

The story is confounded with that of the Shepherds 
supposed to have built Jerusalem, but the introduc¬ 
tion of this name betrays the fact that the rescued 
bondmen were, at one time, masters of that city. It 
is not improbable that the Egyptians considered the 
Jews as one of the tribes of their detested enemies; 
and it appears that they were in fact intimately allied 
with them. From those frontier tribes we must 
suppose the “mixed multitude” to be derived who 
accompanied the children of Israel in their Exodus. 2 
In the exhortation to Amenophis to deliver the land 
from the outcasts, we may perhaps recognise the 
language really used by Pharaoh’s priests, “Let the 
men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: 
knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” 3 
Even the name of Osarsiph, the priest of Heliopolis, 
might be traced to Joseph the son-in-law of such a 
priest, whom the mythologists confounded with Moses, 
the second representative Hebrew. 

1 Cont. Apion, lib. 1, c. xi. 26, 27. 2 Exod. xii. 38. 3 Exod. x. 7. 

H 


290 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Manetho could have furnished a truer account of the 
Exodus if he had chosen, since a tradition was long 
preserved at Heliopolis “that Pharaoh pursued the 
Israelites in the hope of recovering the spoil they had 
taken from the Egyptians; but that Moses, at the 
bidding of a Divine voice, smote the sea with his rod, 
and the waters immediately opened a way on dry land. 
The Israelites entered and passed over in safety, but 
the Egyptians pursuing and rushing in with them, a 
fire flashed in their eyes, and the sea again closed up 
the path, so that by the fire and the waves they were 
all destroyed.” 1 

Still the old legend has many more elements of 
truth than Josephus, whose heart was set on identify¬ 
ing the Jews with the Shepherd kings, cared to admit. 
The difficulty is to identify the pious king Amenophis 
and his son Sethos, with the historical or monumental 
rulers. Josephus supposed him to be the last king of 
the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenophath or Amenophis. 
Africanus, taking him to be Amenophis II., makes 
Moses fly out of Egypt in the reign of Amosis. Sir 
J. Gr. Wilkinson, disregarding the traditional name, 
places the Exodus under Thothmes III.; but this 
arrangement obliges him to contend, in opposition to 
the most obvious meaning of the narrative, that the 
sacred historian does not affirm the destruction of 
Pharaoh himself in the Red Sea. Bunsen connects 
the story as Josephus did, with the last Amenophis; 
but then he removes this king to the Nineteenth 
Dynasty, and makes his date too late for the Scrip¬ 
ture chronology, or any Scriptural view of the dura¬ 
tion of the bondage. 

In the story itself Amenophis is the son of Rameses, 
i Eusebius, Praep. Ev. ap. Shuckford, i. 563. 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


291 


and the father of Sethos, who is also Eameses; these 
conditions are fulfilled only in the last ruler of the 
Eighteenth Dynasty, who, according to Africanus, had 
Raineses for his predecessor and Sethos for his succes¬ 
sor. To this king, therefore, it seems most natural to 
assign it; and if he he also the “ Amenept IV.” of the 
monuments, it will he observed that his scutcheon 
closely resembles that of Amenophis II., especially in 
containing the hatchet, the symbol of divine honours. 1 
Such idolatrous pretensions are exactly in keeping 
with the arrogant language of Pharaoh, “ Who is the 
Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go ? I 
know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” 

Such a ruler would be the very character to harden 
his heart against God till a judicial reprobation 
hardened it for ever. The Divine portents have a 
manifest bearing on the pride of the Egyptians, as 
illustrated on the monuments of this dynasty. The 
shepherd’s rod turned into a serpent, the badge of 
Pharaoh’s royalty—the Nile changed into blood, at the 
moment the king was about to perform his daily 
ablution in the sacred waters of life and purity—frogs 
and unclean vermin swarming in the chambers and 
garments of the fastidious priesthood—a murrain 
among the cattle, so dear to the gods—the unwonted 
terrors of thunder and lightning—thick darkness in 
the land of the sun, while “ all the children of Israel 
had light in their dwellings”—finally, the destruction 
of the first-born, the Horus of every house ;—these 
were plagues full of significance to those idolaters, as 
interpreted by every illustration extant of their social 
and religious condition. The monuments throw a 
flood of light upon that solemn text: “In very deed 
1 Only one sign is different, u Neier-hek-pen” and “ Neter-hek-ma” 


292 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in 
thee my power; and that my name might be declared 
throughout all the earth.” 1 When the Egyptians 
sought to propitiate the Grod of the strangers by 
presents of “jewels of gold and silver” (their abund¬ 
ance in which is attested by the monuments), they 
must have felt in their hearts that Jehovah was 
already victorious; and when, in the dead of night, 
the fatal cry went throughout all the land—that 
most grievous of Egyptian mournings—and Pharaoh, 
stunned and terrified, was foremost in urging them to 
depart, his first insolent question would receive its 
answer from many lips, “ The Lord he is the Grod, 
the Lord he is the God.” 

Such enforced convictions, however, are often tran¬ 
sient. “ It was told the king that the people fled.” 2 
The national vanity already began to represent it as a 
flight, and, maddened by his chastisement, Pharaoh pur¬ 
sued them “with six hundred chosen chariots and all the 
chariots of Egypt.” The Israelites, assembling first at 
Eaamses, and other points adjacent to their fields of 
labour, had advanced under the experienced general¬ 
ship of Moses 3 along some of the valleys which 
traverse the wilderness in an easterly direction to the 
Eed Sea. The object was to avoid the warlike tribes 
who occupied the extremity of the Isthmus and the 
southern border of Palestine; but Pharaoh, per¬ 
ceiving they would be thus entangled between the 
barren heights on either hand and the gulf in their 
front, followed in hope of an easy victory. Then, in 
all probability at the opening of the Wady Tawarik, 

1 Exod. ix. 16. 2 Exod. xiv. 5. 

3 Josephus relates that he commanded an army in the Ethiopian 
expedition. 


293 


THE COPTIC MONAECHY. 

where an angle of the gulf now makes the water seven 
miles broad, the crowning miracle took place. The 
Nile with all its gods had been humiliated before; and 
now the sea, the domain of Typhon, was shown to he 
equally subject to the Lobd God of Israel It opened 
under the shepherd’s rod to give a safe passage to his 
armies, but it returned in the might of an ancient 
enemy to swallow up the deluded votaries of Osiris. 
“ Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this 
song unto the Loed, and spake, saying, I will sing 
unto the Loed, for he hath triumphed gloriously*^ 
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the 
sea. The Loed is a man of war: the Loed is his 
name. Pharaoh’s chariots aud his host hath he cast 
mto the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned 
in the Bed Sea.—The enemy said, I will pursue, I 
will overtake, I will divide the spoil.—Thou didst blow 
with thy wind, the sea covered them: they .sank as 
lead in the mighty waters.—Sing ye to the Loed, for 
he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider 
hath he thrown into the sea.” 1 

The strength of Egypt was broken: the dynasty 
was at an end: it was perhaps on the tidings of 
this fearful catastrophe that the infant heir to the 
throne was hurried away with the sacred animals into 
Ethiopia, and the Bedouins, pouring in upon Lower 
committed the ravages afterwards imputed by 
the ballad-mongers to the hated priest Osarsiph. 
After some time the well-known patriotism of the 
people revived, or the migratory habits of the Arabs 
relieved them of their oppressors. The young Pharaoh, 

1 Exod. xv. 1—21. It is obvious that drivers are meant, since not 
mounted horses but chariots (Exod. xiv. 7—25) composed the force, and 
on the ancient monuments there are no examples of mounted soldiers. 


294 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


A A 

/o> 


returning from Ethiopia, gathered an army, not to pur¬ 
sue the Israelites, hut to repress the border nations 

and restore the monarchy. 

This task was efficiently performed by 
the first two rulers of the Nineteenth 
Dynasty. Sethos, the grandson (in Lep- 
f * ' sius’s hypothesis the son) of ftamessu I. 

AT Jijj is entitled on the monuments the servant 
JL) LwvJ of Phtha, Sethein a name expressed in 
Zgszd the hieroglyphics by a long-eared animal 

heretofore taken for an ass, but which Lepsius pro¬ 
nounces to be a giraffe. It was the emblem of the 
god Seth, who at that time would seem to be a deity 
of high repute, but being afterwards identified with 
Typhon the spirit of evil, he was effaced from the 
monuments, and became an object of horror. 

Sethos became a great warrior, whose exploits are 
recorded on the hall of columns which he founded at 
Karnak. To some extent he has been confounded 
with his son Eameses the Great, 1 generally accounted 
the Sesostris of the Greeks. This legendary hero 
seems to have been compounded of 
all the marvels, real or imaginary, float¬ 
ing in Egyptian tradition. The name, 
according to Manetho, was taken from 
one of the Sesortasens; but the actions 
partly belonged to various kings and 
eras, and were partly the offspring of 

1 Some Egyptologists make Sethos to be the father of two successors, 
Rameses II. and III., the latter of whom is the Great Hero ; but it is 
generally held that these are one and the same person, distinguished 
by an honourable augmentation (“prized b)' Helios”) assumed at a 
later period. Rossellini, however, insists that the statues show a 
decided difference of feature ; those who follow his authority, number 
the subsequent Rameses, accordingly, from IY. to IX., instead of from 
HI. to VIII. 


1 



til 


Ml 

k J 










THE . COPTIC MONARCHY. 


295 


imagination. Sethos and bis son are both famed for 
expeditions against tbe “Scythians” then pouring 
down upon Egypt: not content with repelling them, 
they are supposed to have carried their victorious 
arms into Asia, to tbe banks of tbe Ganges and tbe 
Danube. Bameses bad a fleet of 300 ships on the 
Bed Sea, which, having seized on tbe islands, passed 
tbe straits of Babelmandel, and co-operated with bis 
armies on tbe shores of India. A manuscript in the 
British Museum celebrates, in tbe shape of a dialogue 
between Bameses and tbe gods, his victories over tbe 
Ethiopians, Syrians, Arabians, Ionians, Scythians, and 
Bactrians. The chief campaigns appear to have been 
against tbe Hittites in tbe valley of tbe Orontes, 
who bad formed a strong confederacy against him. 
Bameses defeated their army, captured their capital, 
Ketesh, and obliged them to conclude a treaty. The 
most trustworthy evidence of tbe extent of bis foreign 



'marches is to be found in a triumphal monument bear¬ 
ing bis throne-name, which is yet extant near Beyroot 
in Syria, and was doubtless that to which Herodotus 
testifies as erected by Sesostris. By its side is an 
Assyrian trophy, probably placed by Sennacherib. 











296 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


The grandeur and beauty of the temples with which 
this monarch adorned Egypt and Nubia exceed those 
of all his predecessors. The prostrate colossus at 
Memphis is his statue. 

According to Eusebius, Eameses the Great was 
the iEgyptus of Greek tradition; hut Bunsen main¬ 
tains the statement of Josephus, who gives that title to 
his father Sethos. In a passage preserved by the 
Jewish writer, Manetho relates that “ Sethos possessed 
a body of cavalry (chariots) and a navy: during his 
absence in the wars, Armais his brother was appointed 
viceroy, but with a prohibition from using the royal 
diadem. In time Armais, relying on his brother’s 
distance from the scene, assumed the diadem, and 
occupying the palace openly rebelled against the king. 
Sethos, however, receiving a despatch from the high 
priest, suddenly reappeared at Pelusium, and deprived 
the traitor of his authority. This Sethos was named 
iEgyptus, and his brother Armais Danaus ; and from 
the former the country was called Egypt.” 1 Such, ac¬ 
cording to Josephus, was Manetho’s account: but it 
was an account designed only to find a place for the 
Greek legend in the Egyptian annals. iEgyptus and 
Danaus are Greek names never heard of in Egypt till 
after the conquests of Alexander the Great, and the 
legend is clearly of Greek fabrication. 

The truth appears to be that the Exodus of the 
children of Israel was followed by a series of migra¬ 
tions from the Delta, which under the earlier Pharaohs 
had admitted a number of settlements of various 
origin. "While the Arabs and Phoenicians hovered' 
on the eastern border, the western was occupied by 
colonies of Greek blood, carrying on trade or piracy 
1 Cont. Apion, lib. 1, c. xi. 15. 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


297 


upon the Mediterranean. These adventurers were 
in great measure independent of the Egyptian kings; 
—occupying their own towns, and observing their 
own laws and customs. Their settlements probably 
furnished Manetho with his Hyksos dynasties, con¬ 
sisting both of “ Phoenician” and “ Hellenic” Shep¬ 
herd kings. The consolidation of the monarchy 
under the Theban kings overthrew these indepen¬ 
dent settlements; and their chiefs, removing across 
the sea, carried their acquisitions to found new 
cities in Greece. Cecrops of Athens, Cadmus of 
Boeotian Thebes, and Danaus of Argos, were not 
Egyptians, though arriving out of Egypt. They 
brought with them Egyptian arts and learning, which, 
however inferior to the later developments of Euro¬ 
pean intellect, were enough to kindle the Greek 
genius, and initiate the career of true philosophy. 
The Jews are thought to have borrowed the square 
characters of the Hebrew alphabet from the hierogly¬ 
phics ; and the same boon may have been conferred 
on the more barbarous Greeks by the colonists from 
the Delta. The Greek legends dated these arrivals 
about 1500 years before the Christian era. The 
Pelasgi, who taught the Greeks civilization, and have 
been supposed to he a sacerdotal caste from India, 
might he more probably traced in these migrations 
from Egypt, the nearer as well as older seat of learning. 

Eameses is supposed by Bunsen to be the same 
with Bapsaces, and upon that hypothesis is entered 
twice over in the list of Africanus. He is followed 
by Amenepthes, whom Bunsen assumes to be the same 
with Amenophis, the last of the Eighteenth Dynasty, 
and to him he appropriates a monumental name 
reading Menephthah. Then follows Ammenenes, who 


298 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


rr\ 

ii 


may be the ruler called Setei Meneph- 
thah, though Buusen prefers to con¬ 
sider him a rival king. Nothing can 
be more precarious than the whole 
of this arrangement. Bunsen further 
identifies Menephtbah, or Menpthah, 
with Menophres, a supposed king from whom the 
“era of Menophres” derived its name. This era is 
mentioned by Theon of Alexandria, who lived in the 
fourth century after Christ, as beginning in the year 
1322 b.c. It was, consequently, the same with the 
Sothiac cycle, which Censorius speaks of as ending 
139. 1 


A.D 


Menophres being imagined to be the name of the 
king in whose reign this era was introduced, Menpthah 
is fixed upon as nearest in sound. Assuming also 
that this Menophres-Menpthah is the Amenophis 
of Josephus’s legend, Bunsen supposes he has fixed 
the date of the Exodus at 1322 b.c., and shown at 
the same time that “ the fixed point of ancient history 
hitherto sought for in vain has been established, both 
astronomically and historically, in the Nineteenth 
Dynasty.” This assertion is an example of the 
astonishing confidence felt by this writer in a purely 
imaginary arrangement. Eor after conceding all that 
is requisite to connect the year 1322 b.c. with Meno¬ 
phres, and Menophres with Menpthah, there is still 
not a shadow of evidence to connect this king with any 
part of history, sacred or profane. Although Bunsen 
ventures to term his “ Jewish synchronism undoubt¬ 
edly historical,” it rests upon nothing but his own 
conjecture that Menpthah is the Amenophis of the 
legend, and would make the bondage of Israel to 
l See p. 192. 






THE COPTIC MONABCHY. 


299 


exceed 1400 years. To this writer every hypothesis 
seems historical which contradicts the sacred narrative. 

Neither is it easier to reconcile this “fixed point of 
ancient history ” with the well-established chronology 
of the classic ages. Menpthah is followed by Setei II. 
(a king unknown to Manetho), who after a reign 
of only five years gives place to Thuoris, in whose 
time Troy was taken. Now this event happened in 
1184 b.c., more than a century after the period of 
Thuoris on the Prussian arrangement. 1 

Thuoris, a name unknown to the monuments, may 
be a mistake for Phicoris, a title derived from jphior , 
“the river,” the great feature of Egypt, and the 
constant boast of its kings. 2 This would agree with 
those Greek writers who say that Nilus was king of 
Egypt at the fall of Troy; and as the river was also 
called HSgyptus, it may supply a key to the story of 
Danaus, who came from its banks, and was followed 
by others from the same region. Bunsen identifies 
Thuoris with Menra , the progenitor of the Twentieth 
Dynasty, and thinks that one of his epithets was Set - 
Nekht (the strong Seth), which the Greeks, corrupting 
into Cetes (a seal), gave rise to the fable of a sea-god 
sleeping on the shore, who, when approached, evaded 
the inquirer by assuming a variety of shapes. Dio¬ 
dorus says this god was a king of Egypt, and his 
changes of aspect were to be explained from the custom 
of wearing masks representing the heads of different 
animals. 

The god was also called Proteus, which, accord¬ 
ing to Herodotus, was the name of the king of 

1 Sir J. G. Wilkinson believes that the astronomical date, 1322 
b.c., fell in the middle of the reign of Sheshonk L of the Twenty- 
second Dynasty. 

2 Ezek. xxix. 3. 


300 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Egypt at the taking of Troy. He relates that Paris, 
having been driven on the Egyptian coast with Helen 
on their way from Sparta, was detained till the king 
had been apprised of his adventure. Proteus, indig¬ 
nant at his crimes, would have put him to death but 
for the laws of hospitality; in permitting him to 
depart, he kept Helen and all the treasure in Egypt, 
where she was found by her husband, Menelaus, on 
returning from the fall of Troy. The historian asserts 
that Priam represented this fact to the Greek ambas¬ 
sadors who demanded Helen’s restoration, and that 
she was really not in the city as represented by 
Homer. 1 In the Odyssey, Menelaus actually touches 
in Egypt on his return from Troy; and the poet 
makes him describe his visit to Proteus, the veteran 
sea-god, whom he found sleeping in the midst of his 
seals on the island of Pharos. On being seized he 
changed himself into a lion, a dragon, a panther, an 
enormous sow, then into water, and a tree, finally 
returning to his own shape. 2 The poet is doubtless 
quite as reliable as the Manethonian history. 

With the Nineteenth Dynasty Manetho terminated 
his second book. The third commenced with the 
Twentieth Dynasty, consisting of twelve Diospolite 
kings, whose names are not given. The omission has 
been supplied from the temple of Medinet Aboo and 
other monuments, which furnish a succession of rulers 
bearing the family name of Eameses. The first is 
Eameses III., supposed to be the son of Merira, whose 
conquests are recorded on the great temple of Medinet 
Aboo. These sculptures represent a naval victory on 
the Mediterranean, gained over the fleets of the Carians 
and Cretans, as well as land conquests over the Philis- 
1 Herod, ii. 18. 2 Od. iv. 331—570. 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


301 


tines, and the Libyans of Western Africa. The long 
reign of this monarch, which recalled the glories of the 
great Baineses, concluded the flourishing period of the 
monarchy. He was the founder of the temple at 
Medinet Aboo, one of the finest in Egypt, and is 
represented on its walls carried in procession under a 
canopy, 1 with the figure of a lion (perhaps the living 
animal) by his side. The god Khem, the bull Apis, 
and the ark, are borne in the same procession, accom¬ 
panied by priests and soldiers. The lid of this king’s 
sarcophagus, now in the Museum at Cambridge, re¬ 
presents him between Isis and Hephthys, with the 
feathers and sun of Amun-ra, the horns of Kneph, and 
the whip and hook of Osiris. 

The power of these great warrior Pharaohs of 
Thebes was founded on a military organization pecu¬ 
liar to their race and age, but possibly somewhat 
analogous to the Bajpoot caste of India. The 
inroads of the Bedouins had shown the necessity 
of assigning a particular class to the profession 
of arms, which, in accordance with Oriental ten¬ 
dencies, became an endowed and hereditary order. 
They were divided into two classes, called Calasirians 
and Hermotyhians; the former, according to some 
authorities, were the men under arms, and the latter 
the veterans forming the reserve. Each soldier had an 
allotment of land, chiefly in Lower Egypt, as the 
most exposed to invasion. They furnished garrisons at 
Pelusium, Elephantine, and Marea, and also a body¬ 
guard of 1000 strong to the king. The rest were in 
the military settlements. The foot soldiers were 
chiefly archers, but some were armed with spears, 

1 This word is said to be derived from the Egyptian word conops , 
a gnat, being originally a frame of gauze to keep off the mosquitoes. 


302 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


battle-axes, or clubs. Iron has not been found among 
the antiquities, which may be accounted for by the 
rapid oxydation of that metal. It is hardly to be 
doubted that the granite obelisks were carved with 
steel (the manufacture of which might easily be dis¬ 
covered in smelting the ore with wood), and the metal 
which made the best chisels would naturally form the 
points of their spears and arrows. On the inarch the 
ranks were sometimes loose, at others the spearmen 
are represented, each with his shield, in a close square 
phalanx. They carried standards of animals raised on 
poles, and their chiefs are distinguished by the 
ostrich feather for a baton. The cities were defended 
by moats and walls, fortified by towers. 

The elite of the army were the cavalry, or rather 
charioteers, for mounted horsemen are not seen on the 
monuments. The chariots were two-wheeled, drawn 
by a pair of horses, as afterwards imitated by the 
Greeks. Each contained two men—the warrior and 
his charioteer: the chief was commonly armed with 
two spears, a sword, and a bow, and the chariot was 
decorated with carving and colour. In one of the 
sculptures a lion is seen running by the side of the 
king’s chariot, chasing his enemies. This incident has 
been ridiculed as fabulous; but it is not impossible 
that the animal should have been trained to such 
exercises, as the leopard still is to hunting in India. 

The superiority of these troops to the undisciplined 
tribes of Asia and Africa is so manifest, that it need 
not be questioned that they secured the supremacy 
of Thebes till newer methods of warfare were imported 
from Europe. 

Eameses was followed by three sons of his own 
name, one of whom may be the Rhampsinitus, of 


THE COPTIC MONARCHY. 


303 


whose treasury a ridiculous story is told in Herodotus. 1 
None of them make any figure in history, and the 
dynasty closed with Eameses VIII., under whom the 
palmy days of Thebes came to an end. 

While David was subduing the last remnants of the 
Canaanites, and founding the capital of the Lord’s 
people at Jerusalem, Thebes, their old and merciless 
oppressor, was finally deprived of the power it had 
abused for ages. The earthly causes appear to have 
been the growth of commerce and wealth among the 
mixed races of the Delta, coupled with the introduc¬ 
tion of improved arms and discipline from their inter¬ 
course with Greece and Asia Minor. The old Coptic 
castes were unable to resist a movement which their 
religious prejudices could never conciliate. They were 
compelled to retreat into the narrow valley, from which 
they had sallied forth to conquest seven or eight 
centuries before. The priests of Amun usurped the 
government of Thebes, while the Delta became the seat 
of a new power, under the Egyptian name, which first 
commanded the obedience, and then exacted ven¬ 
geance, of the former capital. 

It must not be forgotten that these statements are 
to a great extent hypothetical. We are still without 
the light of genuine history or chronology. The 
explanations offered of the monuments are conjectural, 
pieced out by critical comparison with the statements 
found in foreign authors, and by what is known of the 
neighbouring nations. The data become more re¬ 
liable as we approach nearer the historical period. 
The disappearance of Thebes from the regal succes¬ 
sions was the prelude of an entire fall, which is re¬ 
corded by the prophet Nahum. “ No-Amun, that 
l Lib. ii. 121. 


304 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


was situate among the rivers (canals), that had the 
waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and 
floods her defences. Ethiopia and Egypt were her 
strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim (Africa 
and Libya) were her helpers. Yet wa3 she carried 
away, she went into captivity: her young children 
also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets : 
and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her 
great men were hound in chains.” 1 


1 Nahum ill. 8—10. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


THE PHARAOHS OE THE DELTA. 

Change in Population—Shishak—Jeroboam—Invasion of Judaic—First Authenti* 
Pate—Defeat of Zerah—Other Dynasties—Ethiopian Conquest—Tirhaka— 
Account of the Priests—The Dodecarchy—Labyrinth — Psamaticus — Sais—Com¬ 
mencement of Real History—Intercourse with Greece—Military Successes— 
Rhodopis, the original Cinderella—Nitocris—Red Pyramid—Pharaoh Necho— 
Ship Canal—Voyage round the Cape—Pharaoh Hophra—Babylonish Captivity 
Flight into Egypt — Jeremiah — Ezekiel—Death of Hophra—Fulfilment of Pro¬ 
phecy—Amasis—Splendid Reign—Greek Visitors—Capture of Babylon by Cyrus 

_ Persian Invasion — Cambyses — Darius—Native Meleks—Revolt of Egyptians 

Amyrtaeus— Greek Auxiliaries—Last of the Pharaohs—Triumph of Persians— 
Prostration of Egypt—A Glance at Prophecy—Conclusion. 

The remaining Pharaohs in Manetho, from the 
Twenty-first to the Thirtieth Dynasties, reigned in 
some of the great cities of Lower Egypt, which had 
probably never ceased to possess their princely houses, 
boasting the blood of Menes. The Delta was now 
a very different country from that into which the 
fierce Copts had descended from the Upper valley, and, 
expelling the strangers from Memphis, established 
their own rule in their place. The population of the 
eastern part had been largely mixed with Arab and 
Phoenician settlers, while the trade of the Mediterra¬ 
nean, ascending the western branches of the Nile, at 
once enriched its cities, and enlarged the ideas of the 
natives. The narrow policy of the Theban castes 
could no longer pass for wisdom, and the power of 
the Theban arms was no longer irresistible. 

The first of the royal houses to assert independence 
was that of the ancient Tanis, the seat of Manetho’s 
Twenty-first Dynasty. He has omitted both their 

x 



306 


AKCIENT EGYPT. 


names and history, and the deficiency is not supplied 
by monumental evidence. Holy Scripture, however, 
contains a few brief notices which probably belong to 
this period. 

The Israelites, having gained possession of a large 
proportion of the land of promise, and deposited the 
ark of the Lord upon Mount Zion, were brought into 
collision with the descendants of Esau in Edom. 
These were a turbulent Arab nation, who derived their 
chief revenue from levying tribute on the caravans of 
the more civilized Midianites, when passing through 
their country to Egypt. Saul had been obliged to 
repel them from his frontier; 1 and David, after a 
bloody struggle, planted garrisons among them to 
ensure their quiescence. 2 On this occasion Hadad, a 
young Edomite prince, fled into Egypt, and was 
hospitably received, probably by one of the rulers of 
the Twenty-first Dynasty, who gave him his sister-in- 
law in marriage. The queen of Egypt is here called 
Tahpenes, which seems to be the same with Tahpanhes, 
the city to which Jeremiah was afterwards carried. 8 
This city is also called Hanes 4 (without the article), and 
as this word is found in the names of other queens, we 
may consider it a sort of title appropriated to the Egyp¬ 
tian queens of this period. Tahpanhes would then be 
“ the queen’s city,”—a town allotted to her revenue, as 
the fisheries of Lake Moeris were assigned in old 
time to find her majesty in perfumes, and at a later 
period the taxes of Anthylla were added for sandal 
strings. 

On David’s death, Hadad leaving Egypt in spite of 
the king’s remonstrance, made an effort to recover his 

1 1 Sam. xiv. 47. 2 Comp. 1 Sam. viii. 14 with 1 Kings xi. 19. 

3 Jer. xliii. 7. 4 Isa. xxx. 4. 


THE PHARAOHS OE THE DELTA. 307 

patrimony. According to the Septuagint version, he 
succeeded in becoming king in Edom, and “ was an 
adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon.” The 
Jewish monarch was nevertheless able to seize 
Eziongeber, afterwards called Berenice, at the head of 
the eastern gulf of the Bed Sea, and from thence he 
fitted out ships of Tarshish 1 to carry on the African 
trade, previously conveyed on camels through Ethiopia, 
and down the Nile through Egypt. Solomon also con¬ 
quered the Amalekites, an Arab race in the desert of 
Shur, between Gaza and Pelusium, and thus extended 
his dominions to the “ river of Egypt.” Some writers 
imagine this expression to denote the eastern branch 
of the Nile, but the name was given to a small river 
in the desert, which empties itself at Bhinocorura. 

The contiguity induced negotiations with the kings 
of Tanis, and Solomon sealed the treaty by receiving 
Pharaoh’s daughter in marriage. This alliance gave 
occasion to the introduction of the Egyptian chariots 
into the Jewish army, and its fine linen to the ward¬ 
robes of Jerusalem. The contract price of a chariot 
delivered in Judea was 600 shekels of silver, or 
about £75 sterling; of a horse, 150 shekels, or £19. 
Solomon seems to have obtained a monopoly of 
supplying these articles to the Hittites, and the 
treaty being twice recorded, was doubtless very advan¬ 
tageous to his exchequer. 2 

With the Twenty-second Dynasty the seat of 
power was shifted to Bubastis, or Abou JPasJit, the 
“ city of Pasht,” whom the Greeks called Diana. It 
was situated on the Pelusiac Nile, about seventy miles 
from its mouth, and only sixty miles from the head of 

1 The ship-building port of Tyre. 

2 1 Kings x. 28, 29; 2 Chron. i. 16, 17. 


308 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 



the Bed Sea. Its first king was Amun- 
mai Sheshonk I., with whom Egyptian 
history finds at last a sure footing in 
connexion with the Sacred. Shishak (as 
the name is there spelled) sheltered Jero¬ 
boam from the enmity of Solomon, who 
sought to kill the predicted scourge 
of his sins. 1 The king of Egypt may have resented 
the wrongs of Pharaoh’s daughter, 2 or, belonging 
to another dynasty, he may have cared little for 
her in comparison with the political advantage of 
encouraging a pretender to the throne of his formid¬ 
able neighbour. "With this object in view, Shishak 
would offer no impediment, when upon Solomon’s 
death Jeroboam was invited back to head the national 
remonstrance at the coronation of Behoboam. 3 Egypt 
was doubtless counted upon as an ally, when the ten 
tribes fell away from the house of David. The golden 
calves in Dan and Beersheba were imitated from those 
which Jeroboam had seen on the banks of the Nile; 
but if it was by his counsel that Shishak invaded Judea, 
there is reason to think he received the due reward of 
his treason, for among the names inscribed on the 
south wall of the temple of Karaak, are those of towns 
which must have belonged to Samaria. Pharaoh 
ravaged friend and foe without discrimination. Jeru¬ 
salem was taken (b. c. 972): the temple was ransacked, 
and the famous golden shields of Solomon were carried 
away to decorate the altars of the cat-headed goddess 
of Bubastis. This exploit, which took place in the 
twenty-second year of Shishak’s reign, is still written 
in the monumental stone of Thebes, and in the yet 
more imperishable records of Holy Scripture. It 
. 1 Kings xi. 40. 2 1 Kings xi. 1. SI Kings xii. 1. 








THE PHARAOHS OE THE DELTA. 


309 


furnishes the first really authentic date in Egyptian 
history, and the true basis of all its chronology. 

The rule of Shishak was commensurate with that o- 
the Ancient Monarchy: the white crown of Upper 
Egypt is found on his shield, and his exploits are re¬ 
corded in the temple at Thebes, with the ancient title 
of lord of the Upper and Lower regions. Both the 
lotus and the papyrus are depicted on the shields 
carried before him, and they are followed by the 
“nine bows,” the acknowledged symbol of Libya. It 
is mentioned in the book of Chronicles that the 
Ethiopians also were subject to him. 1 His inten¬ 
tion clearly was to add Judea to the number. This 
fate was threatened to Behoboam by the prophet at 
the commencement of the invasion; 2 and there was 
nothing to induce the king of Egypt to recede from 
his purpose. 

The figure representing the Jews in his triumphal 
inscription has already been noticed ; s the beard which 
they were commanded to wear, 4 in marked opposi¬ 
tion to the Egyptian usage, distinguishes him from 
the African captives. The hieroglyphics on the shield 
reading “Joudh Malic” with the sign which designates 
land, signify “ the kingdom of the Jews they imply 
not merely a successful foray, but the subjugation 
of the kingdom. We may infer that it continued 
tributary to Egypt during the evil reign of Behoboam’s 
successor Abijah, whose mother “ made an idol in a 
grove,” 5 which, according to the reading of the Vulgate, 
was connected with the worship of Osiris. His priests 
appear to have appropriated the vessels of the sanc¬ 
tuary, and desecrated the great altar of sacrifice. 6 

1 2 Chron. xii. 3. 2 2 Chron. xii. 5. 3 Page 66. 

4 Lev. xix. 27. 5 1 Kings xv. 13. 6 2 Chron. xv. 8. 


310 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


m 


M 


Asa 


These abominations were reformed by Asa, who, 
deposing bis grandmother from her dignity, destroyed 
her idol, and renewed the altar of the Lord. In all 
probability he cast off at the same time the temporal 
yoke of Egypt, and restored the independence of his 
kingdom. The prodigious army which came against 
him in consequence were probably the forces of 
Egypt, 1 called Ethiopians from being largely com¬ 
posed of black troops. The name of 
the commander, Zerah, may be only the 
royal title, Si-ra ; but some critics 
identify him with Serakh or Osorchon, 
the successor of Shishak. Though at 
the head of a million of men, he 
was unable to repeat his father’s conquests 
cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it 
is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, 
or with them that have no power: help us, 0 Lord 
our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name 
we go against this multitude. 0 Lord, thou art our 
God; let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord 
smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; 
and the Ethiopians fled.” 2 

This defeat was followed by the decline of Shishak’s 
house; Tanis once more became the seat of power under 
the Twenty-third Dynasty, but nothing is known of its 
history. Another shifting of the scene exhibits Sais 
again in possession, under the single king of the 
Twenty-fourth Dynasty, Bocchoris, “ in whose time a 
lamb spoke!” The Greek writers make him the son of 
Tlepacht, who, leading an army into Arabia, was so 
charmed with the independence of camp life, that he 
imprecated a curse upon Menes, as the author of the 
1 Bible Diet., p. 511. 2 2 Chron. xiv. 11, 12. 






THE PHAKAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


311 


cumbrous superfluities of civilization. Boccboris was 
celebrated as the legislator who first gave Egypt a 
constitution. He beaded an expedition into Ethiopia, 
but, being defeated and taken prisoner, was burned 
alive by bis savage captors. Notwithstanding bis 
renown in history, Boccboris has not been identified 
by any remaining monument. 

Egypt was now in turn subject to Ethiopia, which 
it had once held as a province. Sabakon or Sebek, 
king of Napola, was the head of the Twenty-fifth 
Dynasty, consisting of only three kings. The second, 
also called Sebek, is supposed to be the “So (or 
Seva), king of Egypt,” whose alliance was sought by 
Hoshea king of Israel, against the now formidable 
power of Assyria. 1 This league only provoked an enemy 
whom it was not able to resist. Shalmaneser captured 
Samaria, and, carrying the ten tribes captive into 
Assyria, left Judah the only visible heir of the king¬ 
dom and family of David. Many of the Israelites pro¬ 
bably escaped into Egypt, where there seems to have 
been ever a considerable body of Jews speaking their 
own language, and practising their religious rites. 2 

The lastof this Dynasty was Tarcos or 
Tarhaka, who, according to Eusebius, 
£r|nr G1 came with an army out of Ethiopia, 
° and slew Sebek. He was the “ Tir- 

j l j ) hakah king of Ethiopia” mentioned 
* n the history of Hezekiah. 3 Senna¬ 
cherib was apparently advancing through Palestine 
to the invasion of Egypt; from Lachish he sent a 
threatening message to Hezekiah, 4 who had previously 
become his tributary, and was perhaps about ta 


1 2 Kings xvii. 4. 2 Kenrick, ii. 370 ; Isa. xix. 18. 

3 2 Kings xix. 9. 4 2 Kings xviii. 7. 






312 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


seize this opportunity to regain his independence. 1 
The prophet was instructed to declare that the 
invader should “ hear a rumour, and return to his 
own land.” The intelligence of Tirhakah’s advance 
did accordingly arrest him at Lachish, 2 but its 
effect was to divert his march to Libnah, on the 
road to Jerusalem, and repeat his menaces on that 
devoted capital. It might easily have been reached 
before Tirhakah could come up, but the angel of the 
Lord was swifter than the Assyrian army : the death 
of 185,000 men in one night broke up the camp, and 
sent the invaders in full flight to Nineveh. 3 

This miraculous interposition was the saving of 
Egypt as well as Judea; but the priests of Phthah 
were not content to owe their deliverance to the Lord 
God of Israel. According to Herodotus, Lower 
Egypt was at this time under the government of 
Sethos, a priest of Yulcan. The historian calls him a 
king, and mentions two predecessors, Anychis and 
Asychis ; but as none of them are found in Manetho, 
it is concluded they were either local chiefs resisting 
the arms of Tirhakah, or his viceroys in Lower Egypt. 
Sethos had so offended the military caste by withhold¬ 
ing some of their privileges, that on the approach of 
the Assyrians they refused to join his standard. The 
priest, putting himself under the protection of his god, 
marched out with such volunteers as he could raise on 
the occasion. The danger was averted by the sudden 
flight of Sennacherib, which Herodotus was assured 
was wholly due to Phthah. A prodigious number of 
mice entered the Assyrian camp, and so gnawed the 
bowstrings and handles of their shields, that the 
soldiers finding their arms useless, cast them away and 
1 2 Kings V. 14, 15. 2 2 Kings v. 8, 9. 3 2 Kings xviii. 35. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


313 


fled in confusion. In proof of this story, the priests 
showed a marble statue of Sethos holding a mouse, 
with an inscription exhorting the spectator to reve¬ 
rence the gods. 

The Ethiopians, who are said to have retired from 
Egypt of their own accord, would appear to have kept 
possession of the Upper valley for some tim,e longer, 
during which a queen Ameris or Amanartis is found 
on the monuments. At Memphis the priests of 
Phthah had perhaps raised the people in arms, while 
other cities and districts were governed by their own 
nomarchs: a league was formed to which the Greek 
writers gave the name of the Dodecarchy, or “ reign of 
Twelve.” To this confederacy Herodotus ascribes the 
building of the Labyrinth as a place of common assem¬ 
bly, but so extensive and costly a structure is little 
likely to have been the work of that troubled period. 
It is more probable that annual celebrations had been 
held there from time to time immemorial, and the 
edifice had been constantly renewed and enriched. 
According to Diodorus, “ the history of each king’s 
country was delineated on the walls, with the temples 
and sacrifices peculiar to every province.” 1 This was 
not the work of a single age. The division of Egypt 
into nomes or districts, with a local governor and even 
a local religion, continued under every form of supreme 
authority. When the sovereign power ceased in the 
capital, the nomarch was ready to assume the royal 
titles; and as all pretended to be descended from 
Menes, so they appeared at a common celebration, 
attended by their priests and nobles, to join in the 
national sacrifice, and decide questions of common law. 

According to the Greek writers, the princes of the 
1 Diod. Sic. i. 66. 


314 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Dodecarchy bad agreed with each other to abstain 
from any attempt at sole dominion, but the oracle had 
declared that whichever of them should offer the liba¬ 
tion to Phthah from a brazen vessel, would become 
monarch of Egypt. On one occasion, being present 
together at the sacrifice, they proceeded to make their 
libations from the customary vases of gold. The 
priest, through some mistake, had brought only eleven 
cups, and on arriving at Psamaticus, who stood last in 
order, the chief received the wine in his helmet and 
made the libation. The helmet being of brass, the 
other princes took the alarm, and, having expelled him 
from the league, confined him to his own territories at 
Sais; here, on consulting the oracle, he was told 
that the sea would avenge his cause by producing 
men of brass. Some time after, a body of Ionians and 
Carians were driven on the coast, and, being clad in 
brass armour, Psamaticus accepted them as his destined 
champions, and having vanquished, by their assistance, 
the eleven kings, he became master of Egypt. 

The story of the Dodecarchy has been obviously 
embellished by the fabulous tendencies of the priests 
who recounted it. Manetho had no knowledge of any 
such league, but enters Psamaticus as the fourth ruler 
of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The preceding three 
were probably heads of the house of Sais not generally 
recognised as sovereigns. Sais was the port of com¬ 
munication with the Greeks, as Pelusium and Bubastis 
had been with the Phoenicians. These 
roving islanders were now beginning to 
seek their fortunes in Egypt, and by 
availing himself of their aid, Psamaticus 
subdued the other princes, and secured 
the monarchy to himself, B. c. 670. 






& 







TIIE PHA.RA.OHS OF THE DELTA. 315 

With this king Egyptian history takes its real 
commencement. Hitherto we have been chasing 
phantoms, raised and dismissed at pleasure by the 
heathen priests. No Greek had as yet advanced into 
their domain; no light, save a few straggling rays 
from the Sacred history, penetrated their literary 
coverts. From this time forward, Herodotus re¬ 
marks, he shall relate that in which the Egyptians 
and other nations agree. “The effect is immediately 
visible, and we have henceforth a definite chronology, 
an authentic succession of kings conformable to the 
monuments, and a history composed of credible facts.” 1 
Niebuhr, in like manner, remarks that “the whole 
narrative of the period before Psamaticus is without 
value, but from that time it is historical and excel¬ 
lent.” 2 

According to Herodotus, Psamaticus reigned forty- 
six years, and Lepsius has discovered the forty-fifth 
in a papyrus at Turin. He showed his gratitude to 
his Greek auxiliaries by retaining them in the Egyp¬ 
tian army, and granting them lands on the Pelusiac 
Nile, below Bubastis, where they formed a settlement 
called “the camps.” Desirous of encouraging the 
commerce which had raised his city above other Egyp¬ 
tian capitals, he assigned Naucratis, a port somewhat 
lower down on the opposite bank, for a trading settle¬ 
ment. Treaties were entered into with Athens and 
other Greek states, and the king evinced his prefer¬ 
ence for the new learning by giving his children a 
Greek education. This liberality to foreigners, so 
conducive to the real interests of the kingdom, was 
highly offensive to the traditions and feelings of the 

1 Kenrick, ii. 381. 

2 Lect. on Ancient History, cited in Lewis’s Astronomy of the 
Ancients, p. 315. 


316 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Copts. To content the priests, Psamaticus built the 
great hall of Apis at Memphis, the pillars of which 
were colossal figures of himself, with the attributes of 
Osiris. He also erected many other splendid monu¬ 
ments in Upper and Lower Egypt. 

The military classes were gratified by renewing the 
fame of Egypt in the field. He recaptured Ashdod 
(Azotus) in Palestine, after a siege of twenty-nine 
years, from the Assyrians who had previously taken it 
from Egypt. His native soldiers, however, becoming 
discontented with the partiality shown to the Greek 
auxiliaries, 240,000 Egyptians are said (with the 
usual indifference to numbers) to have deserted from 
Elephantine, and retired into Ethiopia. Here they 
settled in a district assigned them by the Ethiopian 
prince, and diffused a knowledge of Egyptian civiliza¬ 
tion among his less advanced subjects. 1 To this reign 
is ascribed the origin of the demotic writing, intro¬ 
duced for drawing up the contracts which the progress 
of commerce rendered necessary. 

Psamaticus is the subject of two stories more akin 
to nursery tales than the recitals of history. In order 
to discover which was the mother tongue of mankind, 
he had two children brought up in seclusion without 
ever being spoken to. The first sound they emitted 
was said to be bek, probably in imitation of the goat’s 
cry which suckled them; but this word signifying 
bread in the Phoenician language, it was concluded to 
be the most ancient form of speech. 

The other story is that, as he was sitting in the 
court of his palace, an eagle dropped a lady’s shoe into 

1 An inscription, cut by the Greek soldiers who pursued these 
deserters, on a statue at Abou Simbel, at the second Cataract, is perhaps 
one of the earliest Greek writings now extant. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


317 


his lap, the elegance of which so charmed the Pharaoh 
that he made proclamation for the owner to come 
and be his wife. The fair Cinderella turned out to be 
a Greek slave named Ehodope, once the fellow-servant 
of AUsop, whose slipper had been carried off while she 
was bathing at Naucratis. Psamaticus made her his 
queen, and according to Strabo she was the builder of 
the Third pyramid. 

What makes this story the more remarkable is that 
Rhodope (rosy-cheeked) is the Greek equivalent of 
Nitocris, who was really the queen of Psamaticus, and 
is found by that name on the monuments. Lepsius 
makes out that Psamaticus had two wives, Nitocris 
and Rhodope, and moreover that he himself bore the 
name of Mencheres. Mr. Birch has ascertained that 
in this age there was an affectation of imitating the 
ancient Memphite names and customs, * 1 so that what¬ 
ever may be thought of Rhodope and her slipper, it 
seems on the whole the most probable that this queen 
Nitocris (the only one of the name on the monuments) 
was really the builder of the Third pyramid, and that 
the mummy with the epitaph to Mencheres is that of 
Psamaticus himself. Remembering his attachment to 
the Greeks, it is very probable the queen, like the wife 
of Amasis, was of that nation, and hence the fair com¬ 
plexion and rosy cheeks which made such a figure in 
Egyptian tradition. 

Necho II., son of Psamaticus (whose 
father was also called Necho) still further 
advanced the reputation of the kingdom. 
Continuingthe war in the east,hemarched 

along the coast of Palestine to attack Nar 
bopolassar, who had conquered Babylon and Nineveh, 

1 Vyse’s Pyramids, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 136. 


fcTl 

l 

/wwv 

U 

UJ 

% 

V J 







318 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


establishing the Chaldee empire from the Caspian 
Sea to the Mediterranean. Josiah, then reigning at 
Jerusalem, being an-ally of the Assyrians, intercepted 
Necho at Megiddo, 1 forty or fifty miles to the north 
of Jerusalem, .and in spite of his remonstrances pro¬ 
voked an engagement in which he was defeated and 
mortally wounded, b.c. 610. 2 Necho, pursuing his 
march to the Euphrates, captured Carchemish, 3 a 
strong city of the Hittites ; and on his return, finding 
that Jehoahaz had presumed to ascend his father’s 
throne without asking his permission, he exacted a 
heavy tribute from the land, and carried the king 
prisoner into Egypt. The government was committed 
to his brother Eliakim, and the house of Judah once 
more became tributary to Pharaoh king of Egypt. 4 The 
conqueror, however, was not to enjoy his triumph 
long. Three years after Nabopolassar sent his son 
Nebuchadnezzar to Carchemish, which he recovered 
with all Syria; and then, driving the Egyptians out of 
Palestine, took away all their possessions eastward of 
the Nile, confining them within their own border for 
the rest of this reign. 5 

To Necho the Greek historians ascribe the attempt 
to dig a ship canal from the Eed Sea to the Mediterra¬ 
nean. A canal from the Nile, for the purpose of irriga¬ 
tion, is supposed to have existed in the earliest times; 
indeed the valley of Goshen could have enjoyed no 
fertility without it. It would seem to have been 

1 Josephus, strangely enough, places this battle at Mendes 
Egypt, which he says belonged to Josiah.—Ant. x. 5,1. 

2 2 Chron. xxxv. 20, 24. 

3 Not the classical Circesium, hut a strong fort higher up the 
Euphrates.— Bible Diet. p. 278. 

4 2 Kings xxiii. 33—35; Jer. xxii. 11. 

5 2 Kings xxiv. 7; Bible Diet. p. 51. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


319 


closed by a change which had taken place in the 
sands at its outlet in the gulf of Suez. Such a 
change is thought to be alluded to in the prophecy of 
Isaiah: “ The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of 
the Egyptian sea.” 1 By the gradual formation of a sand 
bank across the gulf, the upper part of it was cut off 
from the Bed Sea, and converted into a lake. A line of 
morasses and lakes still runs from this lake to the 
Pelusiac marshes, to the east of which was “ the great 
Serbonian bog,” fabled to have swallowed up whole 
armies in their march along the coast. Necho pro¬ 
bably undertook to open out the ancient canal, and 
connect it with both seas by cutting through the 
intervening sand-banks. He accomplished, it would 
appear, so much of his design as brought the Nile 
water into the Bitter Lakes, and placed a formidable 
trench between himself and the Assyrian armies; but 
he desisted from the scheme of a navigation between 
the two seas, on being warned by the priests that 
it would be for the advantage of foreigners more than 
of Egypt. 

Still anxious, however, to make use of his ships on 
the coast of Palestine,Necho is saidtohave contemplated 
the far bolder design of sailing round Africa. According 
to the statements made to Herodotus, this was actually 
• accomplished, by means of Phoenician mariners. Sail¬ 
ing only with the wind astern, and unable to carry 
provisions for a distant voyage, the sailors ran down 
the trade wind in summer, landed in autumn, and hav¬ 
ing sowed the grain they brought with them, remained 
on the spot till the produce was grown and reaped. 
Two years were thus occupied in creeping round 
the coast; in the third they passed the Pillars of 
1 Isa. xi. 15. 


320 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar), and entering the 
Mediterranean, proceeded to the mouth of the Nile. 

To Herodotus himself one part of their relation 
seemed incredible ; that while sailing westward they 
found the sun at noonday on their right hand. A 
phenomenon, so unknown in the northern hemi¬ 
sphere, was then rejected as a traveller’s tale, but 
to us it is the most certain proof that Necho’s 
mariners really passed below the southern tropic. 
Influenced by this fact the majority of modern 
writers accept the relation, and ascribe to Necho the 
honour of first discovering the peninsular form of 
Africa. Sir G. C. Lewis, however, after a careful 
investigation, concludes that the story “ is too imper¬ 
fectly attested, and too improbable in itself to be 
regarded as a historical fact .” 1 Herodotus himself 
was certainly acquainted with the shape of Africa, 
but he may have learned it from the circumnavigation 
of Hanno the Carthaginian, which took place in his 
own time . 2 

Necho was followed by another Psamaticus, who is 
said to have advised the state of Elis, in Greece, that, 
being constituted judges to award the prizes at the 
Olympic games, its citizens ought by no means to 
become competitors themselves, for fear of partiality. 

The next king was Psamaticus 
III., whose prenomen is read Vaphres 
or Apries. Some, indeed, think this 
king the same person with the last. 

He is the Pharaoh Hophra of Scrip¬ 
ture, who sent an army to the relief 
of Jerusalem when besieged by the Assyrians, in 
consequence of Zedekiah having thrown off the yoke 

1 Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 515. 

2 b. c. 470. Herodotus was then fourteen years old. 











TITE PIIARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


321 


of Nebuchadnezzar. The latter retreated on the ap¬ 
proach of the Egyptians , 1 who took Graza and Sidon, 
and after a naval victory over the Phoenicians and 
Ctyprians, made themselves masters of Tyre. 

The word of the Lord had now spoken the doom of 
the unfaithful city. Nebuchadnezzar, returning with 
a larger force, Hophra was unable or unwilling to 
encounter him. Jerusalem, again besieged, was com¬ 
pelled to open its gates after holding out fifteen months. 
Zedekiah and the chief of the population were carried 
captive to Babylon; the city walls were levelled to 
the ground; the temple was destroyed; and the 
throne of David disappeared. 

Instead of kissing the rod, as commanded by Him 
who sent it, the infatuated remnant plunged into a 
sanguinary and desperate revolt, and finally fled into 
Egypt, carrying with them the prophet who incessantly 
rebuked their madness . 2 Hophra received them hos¬ 
pitably, and gave them residences in Migdol (Mendes), 
Tahpanhes, Memphis, and Pathros . 3 

It has been surmised that some recreant children of 
Israel, refusing to quit the fleshpots of Egypt under 
Moses, had founded a permanent Hebrew settlement 
in Groshen. At all events it was a frequent place of 
refuge when danger threatened in Palestine; and we 
may well imagine that the Egyptians were favourably 
disposed towards the fugitives, both from former 
connexion and from dread of the Assyrian power. 

The miserable Israelites, however, no longer testified 
against the idols of Egypt. Their wives and daughters 
burned incense to Neith, “the queen of heaven,” and 
the whole nation sunk into idolatry . 4 

1 Jer. xxxvii. 5. 2 J er * x ^* 

S Jer. xliv. 1. ' . 4 Jer. xliv - 

Y 


322 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Jeremiah seems to have lived at Tahpanhes , 1 a place 
not far within the eastern border, and there he pro¬ 
bably wrote the Lamentations which bewail so pathe¬ 
tically the desolation of Jerusalem. “ Mine eye 
runneth down with rivers of water for the destruc¬ 
tion of the daughter of my people. The waters have 
flowed over my head .” 2 Some of the later Psalms 
also seem to borrow their imagery from the overflow¬ 
ing Nile, which rendered the face of nature so unlike 
the mountains and valleys of Judaea . 3 

Idolatry had now reached its lowest depth in Egypt 
A list of eighteen gods on a sarcophagus found near 
Memphis omitting Amun, Kneph , and JPhthah , the con¬ 
ceptions of older philosophy, gives the double crown 
to Khem, and luxuriates in female divinities . 4 In the 
presence of these soul-enslaving rites, Jeremiah ceased 
not to testify the judgment that should overtake his 
apostate countrymen. He pronounced the doom of 
their protector in words which at that time must have 
been received with a burst of incredulity: “ I will give 
Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his 
enemies, and into the hands of them that seek his life .” 5 
Hophra boasted that his power was so immovable that 
not even a deity could dispossess him of his kingdom . 6 
Possibly it was against this pride that Ezekiel was 
commissioned to send the word from beyond the 
Euphrates : “ Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh 
king of Egypt, thou great crocodile that liest in the 
midst of the waters: that hast said, My river is mine 
own, and I have made it for myself.” 7 

1 Jer. xliii. 7. 2 Lam. iii. 48, 54. 3 See Psa. lxix., cxxiv. 

4 The tomb which contained this sarcophagus is remarkable for a 
genuine arch—a thing then unknown in Greece. 

5 Jer. xliv. 30. 6 Herod, ii. 169. 7 Ezek. xxix. 3. 


THE PHARAOHS OP THE DELTA. 


323 


His overthrow was now nearer than any unin¬ 
spired observer could foresee. The Greeks had about 
fifty years before planted a colony at Cyrene , 1 at 
the mouth of the underground river, which, after 
supplying moisture to the Oases of the desert, here 
gushes up in a copious fountain. The soil is so fertile, 
and the orchards so productive, that some have placed 
the gardens of the Hesperides in this favoured spot. 
The colonists, as usual, first conquered and then 
civilized the native Libyans; the original settlement 
was followed by a general immigration from all the 
Grecian states; and eventually five cities were esta¬ 
blished and united in a league called the Pentapolis. 

The growth of this new power was scarcely less 
menacing to the dynasty of Sais, than to the Libyans 
themselves. Hophra readily undertook, at their re¬ 
quest, to expel this handful of strangers from the 
shores of Africa. His troops, however, who had 
never before encountered Greek arms and tactics, were 
so utterly routed that few returned alive. Incensed at 
so unusual a defeat, the army revolted from the king, 
as unworthy of their allegiance. Hophra despatched a 
favourite officer named Amasis, whom he had promoted 
from a common soldier, to appease the tumult and 
reduce the insurgents. While he was expostulating 
with the mutineers, one of them suddenly placed a 
helmet on his head and saluted him king. Amasis 
required little persuasion to lead them against his 
master, who defended himself with his Greek auxiliaries, 
hut after a fierce conflict, the foreigners giving way, 
Hophra was taken prisoner and confined in his pa¬ 
lace. Amasis was proclaimed king, and subsequently, 
on the demand of the people, gave his prisoner up to 
1 Now Bbmba. 


321 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


their resentment. Hophra was strangled; his body 
was buried with his ancestors in the temple of Neith, 
where the mummies were placed in cells built in the 
walls, to keep them out of the inundation when the 
Delta was converted into a sea. 

In this account there is reason to think that Hero¬ 
dotus was only partially informed of the circum¬ 
stances ; the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel pro¬ 
bably received at this time a more literal fulfilment. 
Josephus relates that the Assyrian monarch invaded 
and conquered Egypt, and having put the king of the 
country to death, appointed another in his stead . 1 
A similar statement was made by Megasthenes and 
Berosus. The monuments, too, show that Amasis 
was married to a daughter of Psamaticus, the prede¬ 
cessor of Apries, or, as many think, the same person. 
He was probably, therefore, not of the plebeian origin 
ascribed to him, but a member of the royal line. Wil¬ 
kinson concludes that he had been for many years at 
war with Apries, and perhaps invited the intervention 
of Nebuchadnezzar, who secured him the throne on 
condition of paying tribute to Assyria. This would fulfil 
the predictions of civil warfare and desolation contained 
in tier. xlvi. and Ezekiel xxix., xxx., especially those 
which assign the execution of the sentence to “ Nebu¬ 
chadnezzar, king of Babylon.” Others refer these 
prophecies to the Persian conquest at a later period; 
probably both are included, the sentence being partly 
executed by the prince whose name is connected with 
it, and partly by the Persians who succeeded to his 
power. 

Amasis enjoyed a long and prosperous reign, so 
illustrious, both at home and abroad, as to recall the 
1 Ant. x. 9. 7. 


THE PHAItAOHS OE THE DELTA. 


325 


f/&^\ glories of the ancient empire. The 
Th'tf temples of Upper and [Lower Egypt 
r IM* abound in monuments of his wealth 
and liberality He was the author of 
L the magnificent propylaeum before the 
temple of his goddess at Sais, and of the grand 
temple of Isis at Memphis. Thebes also, and other 
cities, contain memorials of his encouragement of art. 
The Delta possessing no stone, vast masses were 
transported from the quarries at Memphis to Sais, 
where they still remain. Even Syene was not too 
long a voyage for the enterprise and munificence of 
the king. A shrine composed of one mass of granite, 
twenty-one feet nine inches long, and thirteen feet 
broad, is now lying at Tel el Mai, whither it was 
brought by Amasis to be erected in the temple at 
Sais; but after all the cost and labour of the trans¬ 
port, for some superstitious reason the design was not 
proceeded with . 1 

Amasis was the first to annex the great island of 
Cyprus, which Necho and other Pharaohs had strug¬ 
gled for, to the Egyptian crown, and he further 
enriched his country with the commerce of the rising 
states of Greece. On the death of his first wife 2 he 
married a native of Cyrene, and used every effort to 
promote the most friendly relations between the two 
races. Eor this object he sent offerings 3 to the 
temples of Greece, and encouraged the Greeks to 


1 Kenrick, ii. 441. 

2 This lady was buried in the valley of the Queen’s tomb at Thebes, 
and her sarcophagus is now in the British Museum. She was called 
Hanes-vaphra. 

3 Among these offerings was a famous “ linen corslet” woven with 
gold and cotton, then recently introduced from Ethiopia or India; 
each thread was said to contain 360 filaments. 










326 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


resort to Egypt by permitting them to erect tbeir own 
altars on its soil. Naucratis receiving a monopoly 
of tbe Mediterranean trade, rapidly increased to a 
flourishing town. Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo now 
had their proper temples there, built by the citizens 
of ASgina, Samos, and Miletus, while various states 
joined in erecting the Hellenium . 1 According to 
Herodotus, this was the most flourishing epoch of 
Egypt; and the tombs of private persons bear testi¬ 
mony, by their style and richness, to a general and 
unusual degree of affluence. 

It was during this reign that Thales and Solon came 
to drink of the fountains of wisdom on the banks of 
the Nile. They were followed by Hecatseus of Miletus, 
who visited Thebes, and wrote a valuable history. 
Pythagoras, also, if he really acquired his philosophy 
in Egypt, probably arrived in this reign. He was a 
native of Samos, with whose tyrant, Polycrates, Amasis 
was on terms of intimate friendship. On observing 
his friend’s uniform prosperity, the Egyptian monarch, 
“ knowing the invidiousness of fortune,” advised him 
to apply a counterpoise, by sacrificing something which 
he held most dear. Polycrates, agreeing to the propo¬ 
sition, cast his favourite signet-ring into the sea, and 
then bitterly bewailed its loss. A few days after, a 
magnificent fish was brought him as a present by the 
man who had caught it, which, being opened, was 
found to contain tbe ring. On receiving this intelli¬ 
gence Amasis sent a herald to Samos, and formally 
renounced its alliance, lest, in the doom which he now 
believed to be inevitable, he should have to bewail a 

1 The erection of these temples shows that whatever the philo¬ 
sophers may have pretended as to their origin, the Greeks did not 
consider the Egyptian deities the same as their own. 


THE PHARAOHS OE THE DELTA. 


327 


friend. So dark and full of misgiving is the wisdom 
of man, when untaught to repose on the providence of 
a reconciled Father in heaven! 1 

Amasis was now trembling on the precipice which 
lie foresaw for another. The death of Nebuchadnezzar 
(b.c. 561) 2 was speedily followed by the fall of the 
empire. Cyrus the Persian entering Babylon (b.c. 
539) during the impious revelry of Belshazzar, by 
means of the river, w r hich he had drained of its con¬ 
tents, put an end to the power which had hitherto 
been the most formidable adversary of Egypt. 3 Its 
successor, however, proved still more dangerous to 
the Pharaohs, whose wealth had long 
roused the cupidity of their neighbours. 
Cyrus, extending his arms into Asia 
Minor, conquered Croesus king of Lydia, 
an ally of Amasis, who supported him 
with a body of troops in vain. Cyprus 
was soon after seized by the Persians, 
and Cyrus assumed the Egyptian head¬ 
dress, as if already master of the Nile. 

1 Diodorus, with more probability, affirms that Amasis foresaw the 
ruin of his ally from the oppression of which he was guilty to his 
subjects. He was soon after put to a cruel death by the governor of 
Magnesia, in whose power he had incautiously placed himself.. 

2 Nebuchadnezzar is thought to have married an Egyptian princess, 
another Nitocris, the famous queen of the Babylonians, who 
changed the course of the Euphrates, and built a bridge over it. 
Kenrick , ii. 443. 

3 Compare Isa. xxi. 1—9; Jer. li. 31, 39, 08 ; and Dan. v. It was 
long objected to the Scripture statement that Naboneduswas the last 
king of Babylon, and survived the transfer of the empire; but in 1854 
Sir H. Rawlinson deciphered an inscription found in the ruins of 
Urn Geer, the ancient “Hr of the Chaldees,” from which it appeared 
that this king had admitted his eldest son, Belsharezer , to be co¬ 
regent with himself; this prince, being governor of the capital, 
might well perish in the assault as related by Daniel. This is one 
instance among many of the surprising manner in which supposed 
contradictions of Scripture have been removed by more accurate 
information. 



328 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


These indications showed that war was deter 
mined upon, though hostilities were not actually 
declared till the fourth year of the son of Cyrus Cam- 
byses, b.c. 530. Herodotus’s account of the pretext evi¬ 
dently shows a foregone conclusion. Cambyses (he says) 
had chosen to demand the “ daughter of Pharaoh” in 
marriage; hut Amasis, fearing she would not enjoy 
the honours of a principal wife, sent Nitetis a daughter 
of Hophra, instead of his own. Nitetis, disclosing 
the fraud, urged the king to chastise the man who had 
deposed and slain her father. Cambyses, ensnared by 
her beauty, undertook her quarrel, and determined to 
destroy the offender. The marriage here pretended 
must have taken place so many years before, that 
some authorities refer it to Cyrus, making Cambyses 
the son, instead of the husband, of the princess whose 
wrongs he avengedd It required little, however, at 
any time to induce these ancient monarchs to appro¬ 
priate their neighbours’ possessions. Cambyses needed 
no other provocation than the information he had 
obtained from Phanes, a Greek officer who had fled 
from the court of Amasis, on the means of crossing the 
intervening desert. 

Amasis escaping the threatened vengeance by death 
(b.c. 525), the invasion burst upon . the devoted 
head of his son Psammeticus, called by the Greeks 
Psammenitus. His reign was short, and the contem¬ 
porary inscriptions are few: a statue of Phthah in the 
Vatican is engraved with his name. Cambyses entered 
on the war with great preparations by sea and land. 
He made a league with the Cypriots, Phoenicians, 
Ionians, and iEolians; indeed, the strength of his 
army was the Greek soldiery. Arrangements were 
1 See the authorities cited in Prideaux’s Connexion, i. 159. 


THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 


329 


also concluded with an Arab ruler to supply the 
troops with water, in skins carried by camels, while 
passing the desert. 

By this means he arrived before Pelusium, and find¬ 
ing it defended by a strong garrison, took advantage of 
an Egyptian superstition to effect their destruction. 
A number of cats, dogs, and sheep having been placed 
in front of the attacking parties, the natives, afraid to 
discharge a missile upon creatures whose lives were 
more sacred than their own, suffered the place to he 
taken without a blow in its defence. Psammenitus, 
however, coming up with his whole army, a bloody battle 
ensued. The Greeks on the Egyptian side, incensed at 
the treachery of Phanes, by whose counsel Cambyses 
was guided, put his sons to death in the sight of both 
armies, and horribly quaffed their blood. The Persians, 
enraged at this atrocity, delivered the attack with so 
much fury, that the Egyptian forces were broken and 
scattered. Cambyses pursued them to Memphis, where 
his heralds, sailing up the Nile on a ship of Mitylene, 
summoned the city to surrender. The angry populace 
tore the messenger and his party to pieces; in revenge 
for this Cambyses, after capturing the place, ordered 
ten Egyptians of the highest quality to be executed 
for every life so sacrificed in defiance of the law of 
nations, The king’s eldest son was of the number; 
and Psammenitus himself, though spared at first, was 
soon after put to death. Prom Memphis, the con¬ 
queror proceeded to Sais, where he caused the mummy 
of Amasis to be disinterred and committed to the 
flames;—an impiety scarcely less odious to his own 
fire-worshippers than to the deepest feelings of the 
Egyptians. The whole country, however, submitted 
panic-stricken to the Persian yoke. 


330 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


Cambyses, who was undoubtedly a madman, made 
war upon the religion, no less than the liberties 
of Egypt. Exasperated by the contempt of the Ethio¬ 
pians, whose king sent him a bow, bidding him not to 
think of invading them till he could bend it, he 
left his G-reek auxiliaries in Lower Egypt, and marched 
with all his Orientals up the valley. At Thebes he 
detached 50,000 men into the desert to seize the 
Great Oasis, and burn the temple of Jupiter Ammon. 
This force, being overtaken by the sirocco, perished 
to a man in the burning sands. The king, continuing 
his march into Ethiopia, soon exhausted his resources, 
and was reduced to such straits that, after eating up 
all the beasts of burden, the soldiers decimated their 
own ranks, and fed upon human flesh. The bulk of 
the army perished before the madman consented to 
retrace his steps. 

Arriving in Memphis during a general rejoicing at 
the ejpiphaneia of Apis, he imagined the populace to 
be triumphing over his failure, and ordered the magis¬ 
trates, in spite of their explanations, to be slain. 
Receiving, however, a similar account from the priests, 
he demanded to see the deity who condescended thus to 
show himself in Egypt. At the sight of a black bull he 
burst into a rage, and hurling his dagger at the beast, 
wounded it mortally in the thigh. After reviling the 
priests for their stupidity in worshipping a beast, he 
had them severely scourged, threatening ddath to every 
one that should presume to continue the festival. 

Notwithstanding this furious protest against 
idolatry, the Persian monarch acted as if he 
were himself a god, while his disposition w r as more 
ferocious and his private life more brutal than any 
beast’s. His atrocities belong to the history of 


THE PHAEAOHS OP THE DELTA. 


331 


Persia rather than of Egypt. He left Memphis on 
his return to the East, about three years after the 
conquest, having first, with strange inconsistency, 
consulted the oracle of Bytis on the place of his 
death. Being answered at Ecbatana, he determined 
to cheat the gods by never passing into Media. In 
proceeding through Syria, his sword happened to fall 
from the scabbard as he w^as mounting his horse, and 
inflicted a severe wound in the thigh. He was 
carried to a village, where the injury assumed a 
threatening aspect: inquiring the name of the place, 
he was thunderstruck to be told “ Ecbatana. ’ He 
died disregarded by his followers, who imputed his 
last words of caution to the well-known malice and 
treachery of his nature. The Egyptians enjoyed the 
double gratification of boasting the truth of their 
oracle, and of pointing out that Apis had avenged his 
death by directing the steel to the same portion of 
his murderer’s body. 

Cambyses was succeeded by Darius, under 
whom Egypt was permitted to enjoy its 
full civil and religious usages, subject only 
to the payment of a tribute of £170,000 
per annum. The government was ad¬ 
ministered by native kings, with the title of 
meleh; while that of Pharaoh was assumed 
by the Persian sovereign. Darius was himself an 
idolater, of the Sabian kind, and was therefore tolerant 
of the idols of Egypt. His name is found surmounted 
by the goose and sun of the Pharaohs; and he was 
the only Persian sovereign who shared their religious 
titles during his life, and their divine honours after 
death. In religion, as in morals, it is the first 
departure from the truth which calls forth rebuke: 


/%% 




332 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


the further men wander the less they are inclined to 
quarrel with the errors of others. An abandoned 
criminal is little scrupulous about his associates, and 
an open idolater has no occasion to he sensitive at the 
introduction of new gods. Darius accepted the 
Egyptian idols among his patron divinities, and the 
Egyptians reckoned Darius in the number of their 
celebrated lawgivers. They even seem to have con¬ 
soled themselves with the belief that this Persian 
was a son of Menes! There was a limit, however, 
to such courtesies. When the Persian monarch pro¬ 
posed to erect his own statue at Memphis, in front of 
that of Bameses the Great, the priests remonstrated. 
This was the great Sesostris who subdued the Scy¬ 
thians, while Darius had failed in his expedition against 
the same people. The king could only submit, with 
the remark, that if he lived as long as Sesostris he 
might hope to equal his exploits. 

The first two meleks were Amasis and his son 
Nephra, under whom the canal was thoroughly 
op.ened out from Bubastis to the Lake at the head of 
the Bed Sea, and the latter sweetened by the influx of 
Nile water. The third melek, Manduopth, taking 
advantage of the shock inflicted on the Persian power 
by the defeat of Xerxes at Marathon, assumed the 
sovereignty of Dpper and Lower Egypt; but this 
being speedily subdued, the country was subjected to 
a far heavier yoke. 

Xerxes, who had embraced the tenets of the Magi 
recently revived by Zoroaster, treated the idolaters 
with a severity provoked alike by their insubordina¬ 
tion and their fanaticism. His brother Achaemenes, 
being appointed satrap, ruled with a rod of iron. 
The fleet was employed in his war upon Greece, 


THE PHARAOHS OE THE DELTA. 


333 


and the Calasirians and Hermotybians were obliged to 
serve on board as marines. The Egyptians assisted 
with their papyrus ropes in the construction of the 
bridge of boats, by which the Persian forces crossed 
the Hellespont, b. c. 480, and served as swordsmen 
in the battle of Platea. The signal failure of those 
preparations, and the destruction of the mighty host 
which had threatened the liberties of Greece, suggested 
the ambition of recovering their own; and the intelli- 
gence of Xerxes’ death was followed by a general revolt. 

Marus the son of Psammeticus, who ruled the city of 
Marcea, not far from where Alexandria was afterwards 
built, headed the Libyans (as the people to the west of 
the Nile were called), and proclaimed himself king. 
He defeated the Persians in a great battle at Papremis, 
near the head of the Delta, where Marus slew Achae- 
menes with his own hand. The Persians fled to 
Memphis, and Marus had recourse to the Athenian 
fleet at Cyprus. With 72,000 bushels of wheat he 
bought the assistance of forty triremes, which, entering 
the Nile, destroyed the Persian ships, and sailed up to 
Memphis. Here they were joined by the Egyptians 
under Marus, and a prince of Sais named Amyrtaeus. 

In a combined attack on the Persians the town was 
taken, but the remainder of the garrison held out in 
the citadel, called the White Wall, till relieved three 
years after. Themistocles, who had taken refuge from 
his enemies at the Persian court, was commanded by 
Artaxerxes (the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther) to 
take command of the succours; but preferring death 
to fighting against his countrymen, he destroyed him¬ 
self by poison. The expedition was then undertaken 
by Megabazus, who, arriving before Memphis with a 
large army, defeated the allies with great slaughter. 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


334 

Marus retired to an island of the Nile called 
Prosopitis, where the Athenian fleet defending his 
position, they held out for a year and a half against 
all the power of Persia. At last, by cutting fresh 
channels, the water was drawn away from the fleet, 
and a passage into the island laid open. Marus then 
capitulated, hut the Athenians, 6000 in number, 
setting fire to their ships, determined to sell their 
lives as dearly as the Spartans had at Thermopylae. 
Alarmed at their desperation, the Persians agreed to 
give them a sate conduct into Greece, and on these 
terms this formidable revolt was finally subdued. 
Pive years after, b. c. 456, Marus and his companions 
were perfidiously delivered into the power of the 
king’s mother, who caused him to be crucified and the 
others beheaded, in revenge for the death of Achae- 
menes. 

Meantime Amyrtaeus maintained his independence 
in the marshes for many years; and in the reign of 
Darius II., emerging from his retreat, he headed a 
general insurrection, and completely mastered the 
Persians. He reigned for six years as king of Egypt, 
and his rule constitutes the Twenty-seventh Dynasty 
of Manetho. According to Herodotus, his son Pau- 
siris succeeded him by favour of the Persians, imply¬ 
ing that Egypt was again reduced to their yoke; but 
no similar name is found in IManetho. Mr. Kenrick 
suggests that this Amyrtseus was the son of Pausiris, 
and grandson of the prince of the same name who 
fought in alliance with Marus, nearly forty years 
before. He restored the temple of Chons at Thebes, 
and left his name in the Oasis of El Kharzeh. His 
body is thought to have been interred in the magnifi¬ 
cent sarcophagus of green breccia now in the British 


THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 335 

Museum, which some have supposed to be the coffin of 
Alexander the Great. 

The next Dynasty (the Twenty-ninth) reigned at 
Mendes, a city on the same branch of the Nile with 
Tanis and Sais, and probably the Migdol of Scrip¬ 
ture. 1 The Persians being now fully occupied with 
the revolt of the Medes, Egypt was left to play 
an unimportant part in the internal disputes of the 
Greek states. During this brief period, the hawk- 
headed god Mandu usurped the honours of Amun-ra, 
and was even substituted on some of his monuments 
at Thebes. 

The Thirtieth and last of the native dynasties 
arose at Sebennytus, Manetho’s own town, situated 
on the middle branch of the Nile. In the time of 
Nectanebo the first of this line, the Persian king 
Artaxerxes Mnemon determined on a vigorous effort 
for the complete reduction of Egypt. The Athenians 
were now leagued with the king, and 20,000 Greek mer¬ 
cenaries accompanied the Persian commander. They 
entered the Nile by the Mendesian mouth, which was 
less guarded than the Pelusiac, but dissensions be¬ 
tween the commanders delayed their operations till 
the inundation obliged them to retire. Nectanebo 
reigned eighteen years without further molestation, 
during which Egypt was again open to the scientific 
world, and was visited by Eudoxus and Plato. 

The next king, Tachos, was called on at the opening 
of his reign to resist a fresh attack from the Persians. 
As Athens had gone over to his enemies, Tachos had 
no difficulty in securing the assistance of Sparta, who 
sent him 1000 troops under their king Agesilaus. 
When the Egyptians, however, saw a little old man of 
1 Exod. xiv. 2; Jer. xliv. 1, 


336 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


seventy seated on the grass, who would accept only 
the plainest food, and bade them give their sweet¬ 
meats and precious perfumes to his Helots, they de¬ 
spised him as unworthy to command their armies. 
Tachos entrusted his fleet to Chabrias, an Athenian, 
and commanded in chief himself. He lost the affec¬ 
tions of his subjects, however, by plundering the 
temples, and imposing new taxes for the war; and 
when he had advanced into Palestine, with the view of 
meeting the attack on the enemy’s ground, instead of 
his own, the troops in Egypt proclaimed his nephew 
Nectanebo king. Agesilaus, taught to consider the 
people before the ruler, transferred his aid to the new 
king; and the old one, deserted by the army in 
Palestine, fled into Persia and made his peace with 
the tyrant. 

Nectanebo was for some time op¬ 
posed by a rival Mendesian chief at 
the head of 100,000 men; but having 
vanquished him by the aid of the 
Spartan tactics, he reigned for some 
years in tranquillity. In the mean¬ 
time, Artaxerxes II., during whose 
long reign Egypt had maintained its 
independence, was succeeded by his son Ochus, who 
made his way to the throne over the dead bodies of 
upwards of eighty murdered relations. This king re¬ 
newed the conquest of Egypt b. c. 350. After losing a 
large part of his army in the famous lake of Serbonis, 





he reached Pelusium at the same time that an ex¬ 
pedition of Greeks and Persians sailed up the Nile 
against Memphis. Nectanebo had collected an army 
of 100,000 men, of whom one fifth were Greeks, the 
same proportion Libyans, and the rest Egyptians. 








THE PHAEAOHS OF THE DELTA. 337 

With these he held the border towns and passes, but 
was ruined, as his father had been, by refusing the 
advice of the Greek generals. Had he remained 
guarding the frontier, they would have taken care of 
the capital, but, alarmed at the demonstration against 
the metropolis, he suddenly fell back to its defence. 
The Greeks at Pelusium, finding themselves deserted, 
made terms for their own safety, and delivered up the 
town. The enemy poured in without opposition; and 
Ochus, treating those who submitted with kindness, 
threatened all opponents with a vengeance which his 
sanguinary disposition rendered doubly formidable. 
The terrified Egyptians once more submitted their 
necks to the Persian yoke, and Nectanebo fled into 
Ethiopia. 

With him fell the Egyptian monarchy for ever. He 
was the last of the Pharaohs: the last native that 
ever reigned in a land which for three and twenty 
centuries had boasted the purity of its royal blood, 
and sustained its patriotism by an extraordinary 
hatred and contempt of foreigners. All the bitterness 
and humiliation of defeat were now to be endured in 
company with the most miserable sufferings. The 
barbarous Persian dismantled the cities, plundered the 
temples, and gave up the people to slaughter. The 
public registers were carried away into Persia. The 
sacred Apis was sacrificed to an ass, and the miserable 
priests were compelled to eat his flesh. This last 
outrage was provoked by a pun upon the tyrant’s 
name, made, as the Greeks supposed, in ridicule of his 
stupidity. The Egyptians called him Ochus the ass; 
but they were in no condition to jest: they saw in 
this hated foreigner an incarnation of Typhon, whose 
symbol was the ass; and his impious sacrifice w r as 


338 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


to them a new subjugation of their great god to the 
spirit of evil. 

One last revenge was open : the tyrant’s life could 
yet he reached by an Egyptian hand. Bajoas, his 
physician, a man of extraordinary influence in the 
Persian court, was one of the vanquished race; a fact 
more flattering to Egyptian art than to Oriental saga¬ 
city. By his means, it is said, the registers were 
restored to the temples, hut not before he had poi¬ 
soned the tyrant with all his sons, save the youngest, 
whom he reserved to govern under his own control. 
Binding this prince impracticable, he removed him by 
similar means, and transferred the throne to Darius 
Codomanus. Eor him, too, the remorseless Egyptian 
had prepared the death cup ; but the king, discovering 
the treason, compelled him to swallow his own potion, 
surviving himself to be the last Persian king, and 
yield up his life and his empire at the feet of Alexander 
the Great. 

At this stage the history of Ancient Egypt termi¬ 
nates. Its native dynasties have come to an end, and 
the land has ever since been under the dominion of 
strangers. The long rivalry with Palestine was 
ended for ever. Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and her 
temple restored, under the same king who began to 
execute the Divine wrath upon her ancient opponent. 
The sacrifice and the oblation had been renewed on 
Mount Moriah for 150 years when these last plagues 
were poured out on the field of Zoan. The sweet 
singers of Israel were telling it out among the heathen 
that the Lord is King, when the last pretender to 
the blood of Menes hid his dishonoured head in the 
recesses of Ethiopia. 



THE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 339 

The voice of prophecy was no longer heard in Judsea; 
the canon of the Old Testament was closed; there 
ensued again the silence which had preceded its first 
utterance, and which was only to be broken by the 
cry of the Baptist, “ Bepent ye: for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand.” Meantime “ they that-feared the 
Lord and thought upon his Name” would speak often 
one to another of the wrath they had seen poured out 
on the idolater, as well as of the mercies renewed to 
his people. From the heights of Zion they could look 
towards the wasted fields and ruined temples of Egypt, 
and recall the words of inspiration now so minutely 
fulfilled. A century and a half before Psamaticus, 
when Thebes was in her glory, and Chaldees, Persians, 
and Macedonians were only wild hordes of the desert, 
Joel had begun the warning, “ Egypt shall be a desola¬ 
tion, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the 
violence against the children of Judah, because they 
have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah 
shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to 
generation.” 1 A hundred years later Isaiah renewed 
the burden: “ The Egyptians I will give over into the 
hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over 
them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. Surely the 
princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise 
counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye 
unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of 
ancient kings? Where are they?” 2 The terrible 
picture had been drawn by Ezekiel, when the destroyer 
was somewhat nearer at hand, yet still before the long 
and flourishing reign of Amasis: “I am against thee, 
Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in 
the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is 
1 Joel iii. 19, 20. 2 Isa. xix. 4, 11 : but see the whole chapter. 


840 


ANCIENT EGYPT. 


mine own, and I have made it for myself. And all 
the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the 
Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the 
house of Israel. And the sword shall come upon 
Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the 
slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her 
multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 
And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 
set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be 
destroyed. Thus saith the Lord G-od: I will also 
destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to 
cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a 
'prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in 
the land of Egypt. And I will make Pathros desolate, 
and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments 
in No. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the 
strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of 
No. And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have 
great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph 
shall have distresses daily. The young men of Aven 
and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword: and these 
cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes also 
the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there 
the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength 
shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, 
and her daughter shall go into captivity. Thus will I 
execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know 
that I am the Lord.” 1 

These denunciations, like many others in all ages, 
were doubtless disregarded and despised by those to 
whom they were addressed; but they were now ful¬ 
filled to the letter: and contrasting this desolation 
of Egypt with the re-establishment of the rem- 
1 Ezek. xxix. 3, 6; xxx. 4, 8, 13—19. 


TIIE PHARAOHS OF THE DELTA. 341 

nant of Judah, we may conclude our review with the 
Apostle’s weighty aphorism, “The Lord knoweth 
how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to 
reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be 
punished.” 1 The day will come when the world, of 
which idolatrous Egypt was the type, wll in like 
manner suffer its predicted doom; and of the new 
heaven and the new earth, the joy and glory will be 
the holy city, New Jerusalem, “ coming down from 
Grod out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for 
her husband.” 2 


1 2 Pet. ii. 9. 


2 Rev. xxi. 1, 2. 


APPENDIX. 


THE ROSETTA STONE. 

Greek Text translated, by Messrs . Hale, Jones, and Morton, for the 

Thilomatliean Society of the University of Pennsylvania. 

“ In the reign of the youthful king who received the 
kingdom from his father, lord of diadems, 1 greatly 
glorious, who has established Egypt, and pious towards 
the gods is superior to his enemies, who has set right 
the life of man, lord of feasts of thirty years, like 
Hephaistus 2 the great, kiug like the Sun, the great 
king of both the Upper and Lower countries, offspring 
of the gods Philopators, whom Hephaistus approved, 
to whom the Sun gave victory, the living image of 
Zeus, 3 son of the Sun, Ptolemy the ever living, beloved 
of Phtha, in the ninth year;—Actus the son of Actus, 
being priest of Alexander, of the gods Soters,of the gods 
Adelphi, of the gods Euergetse, of the gods Philopators, 
and of the god Epiphanes Eucharistus; the Athlo- 
phorus of Berenice 4 Euergetes being Pyrrha, daughter 
of Philinus; the canephorus of Arsinoe Philadel- 
phus, Areia daughter of Diogenes; the priestess 
of Arsinoe Philopator being Irene daughter of Ptolemy; 
of the month Xandicus the fourth, but, according 
to the Egyptians, the eighteenth of Mechir—Decree. 

1 Demotic, “Ursei;” the royal serpent or asp. 

2 Demotic, “ Phtha.” 

3 Demotic, “Ammon.” 

4 Demotic , “ bearing the ensign of dominion before Berenice.” 



APPENDIX. 


343 


“The chief priests and prophets, 1 and those who 
enter the sanctuary for the arraying 2 of the gods, and 
the pterophorse 3 and sacred scribes, 4 and all the other 
priests who were come from the temples throughout 
the land to Memphis, into the presence.of the king, for 
the ceremonial of the reception by Ptolemy the ever 
living beloved of Phtha, god Epiphanes Eucharistus, 
of the crown which he received of his father, being 
gathered together in the temple at Memphis on the 
day aforesaid—decreed, 

“ Since that king Ptolemy, the ever living beloved of 
Phthah, god Epiphanes Eucharistus, offspring of king 
Ptolemy and queen Arsinoe, gods Philopators, has in 
many things benefited the temples and those con¬ 
nected with them, and all those living under his sway, 
that being a god born of a god and a goddess, like 
Horus the son of Isis and Osiris, who avenged his 
father Osiris, of a liberal disposition towards the gods, 
he has dedicated to the temples revenues both of 
money and provisions, and has undergone great ex¬ 
penses in order to bring back Egypt to quietness, and 
to establish religious observances with all the means 
in his power, he has shown kindness; of the taxes and 
imposts existing in Egypt, some he has taken away en¬ 
tirely, and others he has lightened, that the people and 
all others might be in prosperity under his rule; the 
crown debts which those in Egypt and in the rest of his 
kingdom owed, being very considerable, he has remitted 
to all, and those shut up in prison (for such debts), 
and those lying under accusation for a long time, 

1 Demotic; li seers.” 

2 Demotic , “ to put vestments on.” 

3 Demotic , “ scribes proclaiming glory.” 

4 Demotic , “scribes of the double house of life.” 


344 


APPENDIX. 


he released from the claims against them; also he com¬ 
manded the revenues of the temples and the contribu¬ 
tions of provisions and money made to them yearly, 
and in like manner the just portions of the gods from 
the vineyards and gardens, and what else belonged to 
the gods in the time of his father, should remain upon 
the same basis: he commanded also concerning the 
priests that they should give nothing more for gradua¬ 
tion fee 1 than was imposed up to the first year of his 
father’s reign; he released also those of the sacred 
tribes from the voyage yearly down to Alexandria; 
also he ordered the collection of naval supplies not to 
be made; of the contributions of fine linen cloth made 
in the temples for the royal palace he remitted two 
thirds; what had been neglected in former times he 
restored to proper order, taking care that what was 
accustomed should be performed for the gods as was 
fitting; likewise also he allotted justice to all, as 
Hermes the twice great; he ordered also that those 
who returned, both of the soldiers and others of the 
opposition in the times of the disturbance, on coming 
back, be kept in possession of their property; he took 
care also that there should go out forces of horse and 
foot, and ships against those invading Egypt both by 
sea and land, undergoing great expenses both of 
money and provisions that the temples and all the 
people of Egypt might be in safety; being present 
also at Lycopolis in Busiris, which had been taken and 
fortified against a siege by a very abundant supply of 
arms and all other munitions, since for a long time 
the rebellion had existed among the impious ones who 
gathered there, who had done to the temples and 
the inhabitants of Egypt much evil, and laying siege 
1 Demotic , “ dues for appointments as priest.” 


APPENDIX. 


345 


to it, he surrounded it with embankments and ditches 
and walls, very remarkable j 1 the great rise which the 
Nile made in the eighth year (and it w^as accustomed 
to flood the plains) he restrained at many places, 
securing the mouths of the canals; expending on 
these of money no small amount, and stationing horse 
and foot soldiers to guard them; in a little time he took 
the city by storm, and all the impious in it he destroyed, 
as Hermes 2 and Horus the son of Isis and Osiris, 
overpowered those who in the same parts had 
revolted in former times; the ringleaders also of 
the revolters in his father’s reign who had troubled 
the country and outraged the temples, being at 
Memphis the avenger of his father and of his own 
crown, all these he punished justly at the time when 
he was there for his performance of the rites 
proper for the reception of the crown; he remitted 
also the debts owed in the temples to the palace up to 
the eighth year, amounting to no small quantity of pro¬ 
visions and money; likewise, also, the value of the linen 
cloths 3 due which had not been given into the palace, 
and of those which had been given in the replacement 
of such as differed from the pattern up to the same 
date; he released the temples also from the appointed 
artaba per aroura of the sacred land, and in like 
manner as to the ceramium per aroura of the vine¬ 
yard ; to Apis and Mnevis he made many gifts, as 
also to the other sacred animals in Egypt, having 
much better care than the kings before him for what 
belonged to them always; and giving bountifully and 

1 Demotic , “he gave a closing of canals, those necessary to bring 
the flood to said city to give it over to trouble.” 

2 Demotic , “ Thoth.” 

3 Demotic , “garments.” 


346 


APPENDIX. 


nobly what was proper for their funerals, with the 
dues for the support of their respective worships, with 
sacrifices, and panagyries, and the other usual rites , 
the prerogatives of the temples and of Egypt he has 
carefully kept upon the same basis, agreeably to the 
laws, and has adorned the Apieum 1 with costly works, 
expending upon it of gold and silver and precious 
stones no small amount, and has founded temples, and 
shrines, and altars; ^ what had need of repair he 
restored, having the disposition of a beneficent god in 
what concerns the divinity; learning by means of 
additional inquiry their state, he has restored the 
most honoured of the temples in his dominion as is 
right; in return for which things the gods have given 
him health, victory, strength, and all other good 
things; the kingdom being assured to him and his 
children to all time with good fortune ; it has 
seemed good to the priests of all the temples of the 
land to decree, to augment greatly all honours now paid 
to the ever living king Ptolemy, beloved of Phtha, 
god Epiphanes Eucharistus, and likewise those of his 
parents the gods Philopators, and of his ancestors 
gods Euergetai, and of the gods Adelphi, and those of 
the gods Soters; to erect of the ever living king 
Ptolemy, god Epiphanes Eucharistus, an image in 
each temple in the most conspicuous place, which shall 
be entitled “Ptolemy the defender of Egypt, 3 ” near 
which shall stand the god to whom the temple belongs , 4 
presenting to him a conquering weapon; which 
arrangements shall be made in the manner of the 

1 Demotic, “ habitation of Apis.” 

2 Demotic, “ he gave addition of new altars of the altars superior 
to those in the temples.” 

3 Demotic, “Beki.” 

I Demotic, “the god who is lord of the gate.” 


APPENDIX. 


347 


Egyptians; also for the priests to perform a service 
before these images three times each day, and put on 
them the sacred adorning, and perform the other 
accustomed rites, as for the other gods in the epony- 
mic panagyries; to set up 1 for king Ptolemy, god 
Epiphanes Eucharistus, offspring of king Ptolemy 
and queen Arsinoe, gods Philopators, a statue and a 
shrine , 2 both gilded, in each of the temples, and to place 
this in the sanctuaries with the other shrines, and in 
the great panagyries in which processions of the 
shrines take place, for the shrine of the god Epiphanes 
Eucharistus to go out with them ; 3 that it may be 
well marked, both now and for future time, to place 
upon the shrine the ten golden ornaments of the 
king, to which shall be affixed an asp 4 similar to the 
adorning of asp-like ornaments which are upon the 
other shrines, in the midst of which shall be the crown 
called Schent , 5 which he wore when he entered the 
temple at Memphis to perform for him the rites proper 
for the assumption of the crown ; to place upon the 
platform of the ornaments about the aforesaid crown 
ten golden phylacteries, announcing, “ This is the 
shrine of the king who made illustrious both the 
Upper country and the Lowerand since the thirtieth 
of Mesore, in which the birthday festivities of the 
king are celebrated, and in like manner the seventeenth 
of Mechir, in which he received the kingdom from his 
father, have been named after him in the temples, 
which certainly are harbingers of much good to all; to 

1 Demotic , “ consecrate.” 

2 Demotic , “ a divine image and a shrine of gold.” 

3 Demotic , “ that it be with glory proclaimed on high.” 

4 Demotic , “ royal uraei.” 

5 Demotic , “the double crown, one of Upper, and the other of 
Lower Egypt.” 


348 


appendix 


celebrate these days (the seventeenth and thirtieth) 
a feast and panagyry in the temples of Egypt monthly, 
and to perform in them sacrifices and libations and 
what else is proper as in the other panagyries; to give 
the usual public notices to all for what is to be 
offered in the temples; to celebrate a feast and a 
panagyry for the ever living and beloved of Phtha, king 
Ptolemy, god Epiphanes Eucliaristus, each year 
throughout the temples and all the land, from the 
new moon of Thoth for five days, in which also they 
shall bear garlands , 1 performing sacrifices and libations 
and what else is proper; to call the priests of the 
temples of the land also priests of the god Epiphanes 
Eucharistns, in addition to the other names which 
they had from the gods whom they serve, and to 
inscribe on all their documents and on the seal 
rings on their hands ” 2 their priesthood to him; 
that it be lawful to the rest, private persons , 3 to 
celebrate the feast and set up the aforesaid shrine, 
having it in their houses, performing what is right in 
the feasts both monthly and yearly: in order that it 
may be known 4 5 why the people of Egypt magnify 
and honour the god Epiphanes Eucharistus the king, 
as is just; to write this decree upon a column of hard 
stone, in sacred, and enchorial and Greek letters , 6 and 
place it in each of temples of the first, second, and 
third orders near the image of the ever living king.” 

1 Hieroglyphics , “on their heads.” 

2 Demotic , “ On a ring on their hands in addition to the others 
on their hands.” 

3 Demotic and hieoroglyphic , “ Purifying themselves.” 

4 Demotic , “ with glory proclaimed on high.” 

5 Hieroglyphic , “ writing of the gods.” Dem ., “ in divine writing, 

in writing in the manner of the multitude, and in Greek writing.” 


INDEX, 


PAGE 

Aakhnaten-ra. 285 

Aaron. 185 

Abraham. Ill 

Abydos. 14, 59; 110 

- Tablet. 59, 225 

Achaemenes. 332 

AEgyptus. 6,11,273,296 

Aeria. 13 

Africa, circumnavigation.. 319 

Africanus, Julius. 102 

Agathodaemon.... 129,130,148 

Agesilaus. 335 

Agriculture. 20, 24 

Alexandria. 32 

Alphabet. 83 

Amasis. 46, 52, 226, 323 

-(Melek). 332 

Amenemha 77, 226, 244,246,253, 

265 

Ameni Amenemha. 57 

Amenophath. 273 

Amenophion. 68 

Amenbphis. 287 

Ament. 135 

Amend...... 56 

Amertis.. 313 

Amosis. 225, 271 

Amunoph 1. 273, 276 

-II. 273,282 

-III. 67, 69, 72,193,273 

--IV. 273,284 

Amuntuaneh. 285 

Amun-ra. 63,65,132,279 

Amyrtaeus... 333, 334 

Anuk. 147 


f 

PAGE 

Animal-worship. 163,176 

Anubis. 150 

Apachnas. 268 

A pappus (see Pepi). 

Ape (sacred). 72,179 

Apis. 177,316,237 

Apollinopolis Magna. 75 

-Parva. 61 

Apollo (Aroeris). 149 

Apollodorus. 103, 222 

Apophis. 181,216 

Arab settlers... 305 

Argo. 9 

Armais.. 273, 296 

Armorial bearings. 245 

Aroeris .... 149 

Arsinoe. 27 

Artaxerxes. 333 

Artemis (see Pasht). 

Asa. 310 

Ashtaroth (Astarte). 124 

Asp (sacred). 180 

Ass. 1S2, 348 

Assessors of dead. 74,194 

Assis. 268 

Assouan.. 16 

Astaboras. 6 

Astronomy. 87,166 

Asychis. 50, 239 

Atheism. 116 

Athene. 135 

Athor. 61,144 

Atliothis. 110,143, 233 

Atmu. 143 

Avaris... 267, 288 








































































350 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Baalpeor. 424 

Bab-el-Melook. 72 

Bahr-el-Abiad. 8 

Bahr-el-Azrek. 8 

Bahr-el-Gazal. 8 

Bahr Jussuf.. 14 

Bajoas. 338 

Bari. 189 

Barkal. 9 , 283 

Basilisk. 13 7, l 80 

Basis. 177 

Beetle (sacred), see Scarabeus. 

Belshazzar. 32 7 

Belus. 36 

Beni Hassan. 56, 244 

Beon. 268 

Berber. 8 > 8 

Berenice. 39 7 

Bible chronology. 205 

Bird sacrifices. 173 

Birket-el-Kerun. 27 

Black country. 13 

Boats. 2 ^ 

Bocchoris. 219 

Bourlos. 15 

Bricks. 72,73,282 

Bulls (sacred).... 136,151,154 

Burial. 191 

Bubastis. 26,143,307 

Bunsen (chronology). 105,213,221 

-(hieroglyphic signs). 84 

Bytis. 230 

Cadmus. 297 

Calasirians. 301,333 

Cambyses. 328 

Camel. 23 

Canals. 13,259 

-Red Sea... 26,318,332 

Canopus. 32 

Caphtorim. 12 

Cartouche. 91 

Caste. 119 


PAGE 

Cat. 179 

Cataracts. 9 

Cecrops. 32, 297 

Chain collars. 193 

Champollion. 8 2 

Chariots. 302, 307 

Chebron. 273,276 

Cheops (Chufu). 43,119 

Chemi, Chem.. 12,59,137,148 
Chnubis (see Kneph). 

Chons, Chonsu. 138, 140 

Chronicon, Old. 103 

Chronology . 204 

Chronological periods. 212 

Church. 122 

Cleopatra.. ®1 

Cicero. 123 

Cinderella. 317 

Civilization. 2 

Cobra. I 89 

Coptic monarchy. 271 

Coptos. 12,61 

Cotton. 24 

Cows (sacred). 151,178 

Creature-worship. 125,184 

Crocodilopolis. 28,181 

Cynocephalus.. ^ 179 

Cynopolis. 179 

Cyprus. 325 

Cyrene. 325 

Cyrus... 327 

Dakkel. 29 

Damietta. 15 

Danaus. 11, 273 

Darius. 331,338 

Dashoor. 50 

Dates. 204, 229 

Dead, book of. 94 

-treatment of. 192 

■-state of. 192 

-worship of. 126 

Delta. 15, 305 



















































































INDEX, 


351 


PAGE 

Demigods. 230 

Demotic writing. 93 

Den derail. 60 

Determinative signs. 85 

Diana (see Pasht). 

Diodorus Siculus. 107 

Diospolis. 62 

Divination. 169 

Diseases.. 26 

Dodecarchy. 313 

Dog (sacred). 179 

Dogstar. 22,153 

Dreams. 169 

Dynasties 1. 231 

-II. 234 

-Ill. 234 

-IV. 54, 227, 234 

_V. 54, 239 

_VI. 58, 239 

—-VII. 241 

_VHI. 241 

_IX. 241 

--X. 241 

-XI. 241 


XII. 56,63, 225, 246 

XIII. —XVII.222,226, 

269, 270 
XVIII. ...63,225,273 


_XIX.274, 300 

__XX. 274, 300 

-XXI. 305 

-- XXII. 212, 307 

-XXIII. 310 

-XXIV. 310 

--XXV. 311 

--- XXVI. 226, 314 

.-XXVII. 334 

--XXVIII. 334 

_XXIX. 335 

-XXX. 335 

... 75 

Edom... 306 


PAGE 


Egypt.. 

. 11,14 

El Bersheh. 

.. 58 ' 

Elephant. 

.. 23 

Elephantine. 

.. 10 

Embalming. 

.. 193 

Emplacement.. 

... 36 

Enchorial writing. 

... 93 

Epiphaneia. 


Epiphanes Eucharistus.. 

,.. 343 

Era. 

205, 217 

Eratosthenes. 

6, 101 

Esnflh.. 

... 75 

Ethiopian conquest.... 

... 311 

Ethnology. 

,.. 213 

Ft.lrr> . 

... 15 

Eudoxus. 

... 335 

Eusebius. 

... 102 

Exodus. 

287, 290 

Fninnm.. 

... 27 

Fetichism... 

... 186 

Fish. 

21,183 

Flax. 

.... 24 

Funeral rites. 

... 191 

Genesis. 

... 96 , 

George (see Syncellus). 


frhizeh. 


Giraffe............... 

... 294 


8 

Gods, Egyptian. 

,... 128 

- Q-r66k.•••••••••• 

... 128 

--original. 

.... 129 

-derived.. 

.... 139 

-(see Idols). 


Gondokoro. 

7 

Goats, sacred. 

72,182 

Greek settlers. 

296,315 


.... 306 


.... 12 

Hapi.. 










































































































352 


INDEX, 


PAGE 

Hawk, sacred. 179 

Hecatmus. 326 

Helen. 300 

Heliopolis. 55,136,177,232,252 

Hellenium. 326 

Heptanomis. 14 

Heracleopolis. 56 

Hercules (see Chons). 

Hermes (see Thoth). 

Hermonthis. 75,178 

Hermopolis. 143 

Hermotybians. 301, 333 

Herodotus. 98 

Herschel. 36 

Hieratics. 93 

Hieroglyphics. 79 

Hippopotamus.... 23,182, 231 

Historians. 96 

Hittites. 295 

Holy family. 55 

Hophrah. 90, 320 

Horeb. 1)3 

Horhat. 148 

Horse. 23 

Horus (god). 75, 150, 233 

Horus (king). 273,285 

Hoshea. 311 

Hyksos. 218,221, 268,269 

Ibis. 24,141,179,180 

Ichneumon. 182 

Idolatrous rites. 124,141,179,180 
Idolatry . .108, 111, 122, 124, 322 

Idols. 128 

Incarnation. 139, 283 

Incense. 170,174 

Inquest. 194 

Inscriptions. 42 ; 48, 88, 247, 249 

Insects (sacred). 183 

Intaglios. 163 

Intercalary days.... 150,152,167 

Iron. 302 

Isis. 10, 143,144, 187 


PAGE 


Jacob. 

,.. 255, 264 

Jehovah . 

. 112 

Jehoahaz . 

. 318 

Jeremiah. 

. 321 

Jeroboam.. 

. 308 

Jerusalem. 

... 268, 308 

Jewish idolatry.... 

. 321 

Jonias.. 

. 268 

Joseph. 

116, 256,264 

Josephus.... 101, 

267,269,287 

Josiah.. 

. 318 

Joudhmalk. 

.... 66,309 

Judge of dead. 

... 155,200 

Julius Africanus (see Africanus). 

Jupiter Ammon.... 

.... 29,133 

Juvenal. 


Karnak. 

.. 62,64,67 

Tablet 

59-64, 221 

Kasr. 

. 29 

Ketesh. 

. 295 

Khartoum.. 

. 6 

Khargeh. 

Khem (see Chem). 

. 28 

Kibuga. 

. 8 

Kivira. 

Kneph (see Kura). 

. 8 

Labyrinth. 27,77, 

181, 265, 313 

Lacharis, Lamaris. 

77, 246,265 

Lamentations of Jeremiah. 322 

Lato. 

. 183 

Latopolis.. 

... 75,183 

Lepidotus.. 

. 183 

Lepsius.. 


Lewis, Sir G.C... 87,107,109,167, 
227, 242 

Libations. 

. 170 

Libyan Desert. 

. 5 

Lion. 

23,182,302 

Lotus.. 

. 21,23 

Luxor. 

. 62,67 

Lycopolis.. 

. 19,59 






































































INDEX. 353 


PAGE 


Ma . 

.. 145 

Magi . 

. 136 

Magicians . 

. 169 

Mai, Cardinal . 

. 103 

Man-worship . 

. 126 

Mandu . 

146,158, 335 

Manduoph . 

. 332 

Manetho . 

. 99 


. 105 

Man eras. 

.. 234 

Manlak,,. T . 

. 10 

Marathon. 

.. 332 


. 182 

Marsham, Sir J.. . , 

. 104 

Mams.. 

. 333 

Man , tr .. 

. 145 

Mant, ,, -,. 

. 135 

Maut.mps ......... 

. 67 

Medinet Abou . 

. 62 

Megabasus . 

. 333 

Melchisedek . 

. Ill 

Memnon . 

68, 69, 283 

Memphis . 

.... 32,232 

Mencheres . 

.... 46,237 

Mendes . 


Men elans. ... 

. 300 

Menephthah . 

... 274, 298 

Menephtheion .... 

. 68 

Menes.... 33,100, 

, 109,151, 231 

Menzaleh. 

. 16 


. 53 

MArira.. 

. 274 


. 6 

Middle Empire.. .. 

... 218,221 

Minerva... 

. 135 

Misphragmuthosis 

268,273,278 

Miei* . . . ___ 

. 13 

Mizraim .. 12,109,220,232 

Moeris Lake. ...... 

. 27,77, 281 

Monuments ofLowerEgypt 30 


of Upper Egypt 56 


Moez.. 

Monotheism 


PAGE 

Moses. 96,116,279,288 

Mouse (sacred). 179 

Mui (see Mau). 

Mummies. 194 

Muntu (see Mandu). 

Music.:. 173 

Muth (see Maut). 

Mycerinus. 46, 237 

Mythology. 129 

Nahar. 57, 254 

Names, royal. 245 

Nanator. 9 

Nature-worship.. 

. 124 

Naucratis. 

. 32,315 

Navigation. 

.... 25,319 

Necho. 

. 317 

Nectanebo. 

.... 335,337 

Neith. 

. 134,187 

Nephthys. 

. 149 

Nephra. 

. 332 

Netpe. 

. 48,147,149 

New Empire. 

. 218 

Nile, Kiver. 


. , , _RftiirfifiR..... 

. xix 

TiflTTi A , t . . . . 

. 6 

-mouths. 

. 15 

-inundation . 


-deity. 


Nile Valley. ... 

. 1 

Nilometer. 


Nitetis........... 

. 328 

Nitocris. 

49,90,240,317 

No Amon. 

. 62, 303 

Noph. 

. 54,340 

Now,... 

.. 149 

Num............ 

. 130 

-Chufu. 

. 43,235 

Numpt Amun.... 

. 50,277 

Nus............ 

. 58 

Nyanza, Victoria. 


Oases.. 

. 28 


2 A 





















































































354 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Pathros. 340 

Obelisks (Rome). 55,280 

- (Paris). 67,88 

- (Karnak). 278 


Observatories. 

. 36 

Ochus. 

. 336 

(Edipus. 

. 51 

Old Empire. 

. 217 

Ombos. 

... 75,146 

On (seeHeliopolis). 


Onions. 


Onknas. 

. 90 

Oracles.. 

. 169 

Orders of gods.... 

129,139,149 

Osarsiph. 

. 288 

Osirian. 

48, 90,156 

Osiride pillars. 

. 68 

Osiris. 9,59,129,149,154,190,232 

Osirtasen (see Sesortasen). 

Osorchon. 

. 310 

Ostiaks. 

. 214 

Osymandyas. 

. 68 

Othoes.. 

. 239 

Ox (sacred). 

. 151 

Oxyrhinchus. 

. 183 

Palestine. 


Pan (see Chem). 


Panegyries.. 


Panegyrical year.. 

. 226 

Panopolis. 

. 59 

Pantheism. 

... 124,184 

Papremis. 

. 182 

Papyri. 

. 93 

Papyrus. 

.. 21, 23, 93 

Paradise. 

. 201 

Paris.. 

. 300 

Pasht. 

. 18,58,143 

Pat. 

. 248 

Pathros . 

. 340 

Pausiris. 

. 334 

Pelasgi. 

. 297 

Pelusium. 

. 16,32,337 


PAGE 

Pentateuch. 96 

Pepi. 58, 216, 240 

Persian conquest. 329 

Petesuchis. 266 

Phagrus. 183 

Phanes. 328 

Pharaoh. 137 

Pharaoh’s daughter. 278 

Pharaohs of Memphis .. 230 

- of Thebes .... 244 

- of Delta. 305 

Philse. 10, 75 

Philition. 118, 235 

Philo. 207 

Philology. 213 

Phiops. 239 

Phior. 6, 299 

Phiueb. 10 

Phonetic signs. 82 

Phthah. 33,129,133 

Phut. 252,304 

Pictures (sepulchral)... 57,79, 

195,254 

Pig. 183 

Pillared hall. 65 

Plato. 166,335 

Polestar. 36 

Polycrates. 326 

Poole’s chronology. 228 

Potiphar. 257 

Potter, Great. 130 

Prehistoric age. 217, 230 

Priesthood. 164 

Primitive Religion. 108 

Processions. 188 

Prophecies. 3,54, 115, 304, 319, 
322,339,340 

Prophets. 165 

Proteus. 274, 299 

Prussian chronology... 212 

Psamaticus I... 50,90,240, 314 

-II. and III. 320 

Pschent. 347 


















































































INDEX. 


35o 


PAGE 

Ptolemy Epiphanes... 82, 342 

Punishments (future). 202 

Pyramids. 34 

Pyramids, dimensions. 38 

-- non-idolatrous .. 117 

- Great. 40, 234 

-Second .... 45, 236 

-Third, or Red... 46, 

240, 317 

Pythagoras. 166 

Qoorneh. 62 

Queen’s tombs. 74 

Ra... 55,136 

Rameses 1. 273,286 

-H. 33,53,59,64, 67,69, 

72,253,274,294 

-Ill. 274,300 

-IY. 274 

Ramesseion. 68 

Ramessemenes. 242 

Red Sea, passage of.. 293 

Regents. 258 

Rehohoam. 65, 308 

Religion, patriarchal. 120 

Resurrection. 202 

Revelation to sons of Ham. 113 
Rhea (see Netpe). 

Rhodope. 317 

Rings. 193 

Roschere, tomb of. 72,281 

Rosetta. 15 

-Stone. 81,342 

Royal sepulchre. 72 

Running in. 187 

Sahakon. 311 

Sabeans. 136 

Saccara. 54 

Sacred Book. 119 

Sacrifice. 159,170 

-human. 74,170 


Saf. 

PAGE 

Sahara. 


Sais. 32, 

134,187, 310, 314 

Salatis. 


Sallier papyrus 

.\. 94 

Samaria taken. 

. 311 

Sate. 


Salvolini. 

. 84 

Satyrs. 

. 150" 

Scarabeus. 

... 91, 183,265 

Scemiophris ... 

. 246 

Scutcheon. 

. 91 

Seasons. 

. 22 

Seb. 

. 147 

Sebak. 

.. 142, 146, 181 

Sebennytus..., 

. 15,335 

Sennacherib .., 

. 295,311 

Sensuphis. 

. 43,235 

Septuagint chronology.... 206 

Sepulchres.... 

. 195 

Sesonchosis.... 

. • . 246 

Sesortasen. 

. 55,251 

Sesostris..... 

33, 246, 253, 294 

Set, Seth. 

. 153,294 

Seth, pillars of. 

. 99 

Setei, Sethos, king.. 64, 65, 72, 

-priest.. .. 

274,288,294 
.. 312 

Severus . 

. 53 

Shafra. 

. 46,236 

Shalmaneser.. 

. 311 

Shepherd invasion. 267 


-(seeHyksos). 

Sheshonk, Shishak. 65,212,308 

Sin. 340 

Si-ra. 137 

Silsilis. 75 

Sistochermes.. 246 

Siwah. 29 

Snakes (sacred). 180 

So. 311 

Sobat. 8 

Sokaris Osiris. 69,134 

















































































356 


INDEX, 


PAGE 


Soleb. 

. 9 

Solomon. 

. 309 

Solon. 

. 326 

Sothiac period... 

153,167, 168 

Sothis (see Dogstar) 

i. 

Soul. 

.. 185,195 

Speke, Capt. 


Speos Artemidos ... 

. 58 

Sphinx. 

51, 182,281 

Stammenemes. 

. 246 

Standards.. 

. 302 

Steal. 

.. 302 

Strabo . 

. 107 

Successions. 

.. 95 

Suchus. 

. 181 

Sun-worship. 

.. 124,135 

Suphis (see Chufu). 


Syene. 

. 10 

Symbols. 

. 80 

Syncellus, George.. 

. 103 

Ta-Meheet. 

. 14 

— Res. 

. 14 

Tablets. 

. 59, 60 

Tacazze.. 

.. 6 

Tachos. 

. 335 

Tahpenes. 

. 306 

Taia.. 

. 75 

Tanis. 

233, 305, 310 

Tefnu. 

. 145 

Telescopes. 

. 41 

Temple Worship. 

. 159 

Tentyris (see Denderah). 

Thales. 

157,166, 326 

Thebaid. 

. 14 

Thebes.. 

61,244, 303 

Themis. 

. 145 

Themistocles. 


This (see Abydos). 


Thmei. 

. 145 

Thoth (deity). 

.... 69,140 

-(month)... 

. 22 

Thothmes I. 

71,273,277 


PAG* 

Thothmes II. 273, 278 

- HI.. 58,64,193,221, 

273, 279 

- IV.. 51,67,273,282 

Timaus. 267 

Tirhakah. 71, 311 

Titi. 285 

Transmigration. 185,195 

Triads. 139 

Tropical cycle. 226 

Turin papyrus. 94 

Typhon. 149, 288,294 

Tyre, Ancient. 113 

Two brothers. 257 

Urseus. 180 

Usher, Archbishop. 206 

Vaphres. 320 

Vegetable oblations. 184 

Venus (see Athor). 

Victoria Nyanza. xix, 7 

Vulcan (see Phthah). 

"Wagons. 261 

Weeks. 168 

White Wall. 333 

Wigs. 165 

Winged serpents. 180 

Wisdom, Book of. 124 

Women. 187 

Xerxes. 332 

Xois. 270 

Young, Dr. 82 

Zerah... 310 

Zoan. 232,339 

Zodiac, Denderah. 61 

-Esneh. 75 

-Bames8eion.... 69,167 

Zoroaster. 332 













































































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